Always follow the instructions!

I say that with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. I worked in a couple of places where you were deemed a wimp if you tried to read an instruction book before using a new gadget. I therefore have over the years developed a bit of an aversion to any form of written instruction , that also includes recipes. 

Just lately though that aversion has come back to bite me. Since having the hens I have been baking lots and lots.. I have learned that you must follow cake recipes otherwise you end up with a gloopy or flat mess in a tin. 

And now I must start reading the seed packets before I plant things out. This week it has become glaringly obvious I had done something wrong.. 

First my peas. If you remember some months ago I unveiled the Great Wall of Barton. It was built specially to support this years pea crop. 

It still stands forlornly waiting to become a wall of green. I didnt read the packet!!! the peas I planted were dwarf ones, they dont grow more than 50 cm high. I won't make that mistake again.

Then the cut flower patch. 

To say that its overcrowded is an understatement

I should have read how many plants you could put in a bed this size. I think I seriously overdid it here. But I still cant bear to pull any out. I am sure they will all find a bit of space and I am cutting them as soon as they flower. 

The sweet peas have gone mad. I think every time I cut one, three more appear

Then the poor Mange Tout. These have been growing beautifully and taste great. But I thought they needed a feed, so I took a big scoop of feed and plonked it in the watering can. Of course I didnt read the instructions. I happily watered the plant. 

Two days later it looked like this

Yellow droopy leaves. Once again back to the packet, and sure enough I had used far too much feed and had practically killed the poor plants. I am hoping it they will recover and give me some more lovely pods. 

And the final failure - Asparagus peas. I have been watching these interesting plants grow wonderful pods and so today as they were a reasonable size, I decided to try some.  I picked some nice plump pods

I gave them a wash and a quick steam and then tried one. It was like eating a bit of old carpet!! That cant be right, so I went and read the packet. Of course, I had failed to note that you should eat the small pods up to 2cm long. The pack clearly stated that the larger ones become fibrous. So  I have pulled off all the big ones and will now wait for the smaller ones to appear. 

I have though had one success where I did my research properly. The trailing courgettes. 

I bought them because apparently they grew like a climbing plant. And they do!! amazing no rotting courgettes laying on the ground but suspended in the air. 

I am looking forward to eating the first one, but at the moment I am very pleased with them and because they grow up, they are are a real space saver. 

The Duke of Yorks were finally ready. The greenery has died back so I had another dig today. 

Success. These were from 1 plant. Last year I had to dig up 3 plants to get this many and they were not as big as these..

Just a quick roundup of what else is growing well. The chilli are now so big, I have to take them all out of the greenhouse every morning, otherwise I cant get in. 

I have loads of cucumbers

And green tomatoes. I just need them to go red.

All of my bean plants are covered in flowers

The lettuce are almost ready

After the potato success, I carried on picking for dinner

And I topped it off with a few vases worth of cut flowers

As well as the pictures today, I also did a video walk round, with commentary. I have loaded it on my youtube channel and you can view it by clicking here 

Have a wonderful sunny week