Great excitement this week as the kiwi flowered for the first time. Admittedly there were only five buds on the two plants, and so far only three had actually opened. At least it is a step in the right direction..

Everything on the plot really is looking lovely. Self-sown poppies are springing up in the most unlikely places, including the compost heap. Wherever possible, we leave these to do their thing, and we have flowers in all colours.

The cranberry plants are flowering well. We haven’t really had much fruit from these plants yet. It was for this reason that I dug them up and planted them in containers. The plants seem to be flourishing.

One plant which has flourished perhaps a little too much is the poached egg plant (Limnanthes). They had provided a vibrant carpet under the roses, but were beginning to die back and look scraggy. So we pulled them up. Poached egg plants are prolific self-seeders, and so come late autumn we will need to be ruthless in culling them to leave a manageable number. They are really bright, cheerful flowers, much loved by beneficial insects, but you can have too much of a good thing.

We are now really beginning to reap what we have sown and harvesting is now as much a feature of our week as the planting and weeding. The strawberries just keep on coming, punnet after punnet, and long may it continue! We also have a good supply of salad leaves, radish and herbs.

The Yellow and Rainbow Mixed radish are still good to eat, if rather large. They haven’t become hollow like the ‘French Breakfast III’ radishes, and just need slicing. We have also begun harvesting turnips, which were only just a tiny bit larger than the radish. We use them when they are just slightly larger than golf balls. We are also now harvesting our winter onions, which should see us through until the onions planted this year are ready. The winter onions don’t store as well, so are pulled as required.