Scarlet runners are running!

Yep, they’re doing what they are meant to do, that is, climb up the poles, reaching for the sun, and growing lots of flowers as they do so which will turn into beans after a visit from the bees. Magic beans indeed. And that was quite a long sentence. But moving on, the masking tape securing the bamboo poles at the top is working very well ‚ it has survived wind and rain so I think it will go the distance. This year I put in four poles rather than three to make the structure more secure, but we’ll see how it carries the weight of the bean plants as they grow. Watch the videos.

Scarlet runners

French beans

Potatoes are flowering

And the potato plants are also doing what they are meant to, that is, grow and produce flowers. Soon the leaves will wilt and shrivel up and that’s when I will know it is time to forage for potatoes. I’m desperate to start poking around but if you disturb them while they are tiny, you can break the thread-like roots and then you will have no potatoes. Patience. And hope. Watch the video.

Tomatoes hiding

I knew I had seen a flash of colour in the tomato plants but couldn’t find a ripening tomato anywhere, until I started looking at the botom of a plant. It’s odd, but a bunch of tomatoes hidden by leaves at the plant stem have started colouring first. Maybe a bee took refuge from the hot sun one day and did the business to the flowers down there first. I don’t mind. I’m just thankful to see loads of tomatoes on my plants. Watch the video.

What on earth is this?

I agree, a food umbrella looks weird in a garden, but I was tired of losing nice plump strawberries to the birds. When I hid the berries under the pea straw, the birds found them and ate them unripe. Something had to be done. This has worked, but it only covers one plant, and it is now crushing the top of the plant. I shall wait for the next lightbulb moment.