It never rains, but it pours

We might be heading for the wettest June on record, but it's kick started the garden into life.

The courgettes I planted outside a couple of weeks back were just coming into flower a few days back. This morning, I saw the first proper fruit. They're even catching up with the plant in the polytunnel.

Raspberries are going right off on one as well, these are Autumn Bliss, so hopeful of a good crop although I'll take advice on whether they need pruning, because I'm worried they're getting a little bit too dense.

I'm probably going to dig the canes out at the end of the season and start again on another part of the plot. I'm thinking fruit for a few seasons on the beds where the onions have been struck down with the dreaded lurgy.

The first of the potatoes are also coming into flower. Slightly worrying is I dug one of the Duke of York plants last weekend to see what was underneath and the answer was nothing - not a single, measly spludly.

While the foliage has put on a distinct growth spurt over the last week or so, they're still a lot later thsan last year, when we were well into our new potatoes by now.

The worry now is that  this incredible wet spell is going to bring on the blight.
Mini-munch cucumbers, which I've never grown before, look slightly better in the greenhouse.

They're in a kind of ring culture, with 6ins or so of well-rotted manure, topped with 6ins or so of compost, with the plants in those special watering pots which keep the stems dry.

So far, things are looking good with plenty of fruits and flowers on the vines.

But I've been there before with cucumbers, all's going well, the plants start fruiting and then disaster in the form of mosaic virus or stem rot strikes.

Give peas a chance

When I look at what a shaky start the peas got off too, they're flying now. I honestly thought the mice would get the better of our efforts in the polytunnel, not only chomping every shoot that emerged, but digging up seed before it even had a chance to poke its head above the parapet.

All that, as they say, is now history - at least for now, as the recovering survivors flower and pod up, after making it through their ordeal. I can't say for certain but the yield looks like it's going to be better than last summer's outdoor efforts.

It certainly seems like there are plenty of pods, which in turn have tiny peas visible when the light catches them through the poly. Now all we can do is cross our fingers and keep them well-fed and watered.

I found another pleasant surprise in the tunnel, in the shape of tiny courgettes. I forgot that the yellow variety we planted only produces female flowers.

Plants we've set outside have hardly got going yet. But this baby's making up for them. Roll on ratatouille time.