What's Happening in the Kitchen Garden...

I've always had a thing for butterflies....

I've been threatening you for ages with the tour of our kitchen garden. It's my first attempt at raising vegetables, especially from seeds, (and smuggled back from the US no less!) and I have to admit I approached it a little unconventionally by planting all the veg in the borders mixed in with the more traditional flower beds. Feverfew among the marigolds

It's been super successful so far and we currently have courgettes (Zucchini) coming out of our ears.Looking toward the end of the garden. Courgettes, corn, then euphorbia, tomatoes, carrots, radishes, blackberries, cucumbers, and pumpkin. Whew.

Courgette (Zucchini) blossoms

And speaking of ears. Look at the corns bloom! Amazing that each of those little flowers will be a corn kernel when it grows up. Yummy.

These little ganzanias make me happy.

Look! There's some sugar snap peas among the nasturtiums and dahlias. Can you spot the swiss chard?Stargazer Lily.

My lilies were a complete disaster. I had red lily beetle pretty badly and they completely decimated the lily crop. I only got 2 flowers from about 8 plants!

Here's looking back at the house through the tomatillos and even more tomatoes. What on Earth am I going to do with all those tomatillos? Salsa verde, anyone?


This is looking back at the house. Note the inviting hammock complete with lap cat.I'm convinced that Warwickshire must be the slug capital of England. I've been trying to get lettuce leaves going for the past 7 or 8 months and only ever got a half eaten leaf or two. I've had much more luck planting leaves in pots, starting seeds every three weeks or so in order to always have some fresh lettuce on the go.
This is the potting shed and shady sitting area at the farthest end of the garden. You walk under this archway dripping with honeysuckle and climbing roses to enter, but for some reason I didn't take a picture of it.
We haven't really set up the sitting area yet, we only just moved in about a month ago.... But I did plant a sunflower garden along the wall. Here's a closer look at the first sunflower of the year!
And finally, a little taste of our daily bounty.