On the whole, not too bad for a gardening newbie!

This year is the first year we’ve really got to grips with the garden. What we lack in skill, we make up for with enthusiasm, so a few months back Grace and I weeded and planted seeds in a somewhat random manner! We watered them and got rid of the weeds and I’ve even mowed the lawn a few times. Now we are starting to see the rewards of our hard work.

We’ve picked lots of green beans but I think I keep leaving it a bit late as most of them have been stringy! Our tomatoes took ages to turn red but we’ve had quite a few and the girls love picking them to have in their sandwiches. The courgette plants have produced more than we can possibly cope with! I love courgettes but even I am having trouble keeping up with them!

I have had courgette in frittatas, omelettes, fried, steamed, made courgette polenta slices and have a nice recipe ready to try out for courgette tea bread. Any more suggestions? And still the plant is producing more – it’s like the magic porridge pot!

My main problem has been unwanted garden visitors. First it was blackfly on the beans. Now it is the caterpillars attacking my cauliflowers. I don’t just mean one or two caterpillars. A couple of days ago I counted 37 on my five cauliflower plants! 37 of the little critters! And I have to say, they are not cute. I find them quite creepy!

Needless to say, my cauliflower plants now don’t have any leaves left at all and I can’t see how they are going to come back from this! I fear the caterpillars have won, I’d better get down the market for my cauliflowers this year!