I watered the potager last night for the first time in a while.  With all the rain and heavy dew we’ve been having the ground has stayed pretty moist.  Sun was a great feeling today to warm us up after the southerly wind but most of all because my salad crops still need a healthy dose of sun to make them ripe.

We’ve been enjoying a few salads this week with lots of cherry tomatoes and our lettuces in plentiful supply.  Such a shame it’s not been salad weather all week as there is plenty to eat.

The poor tomatoes have been battered by the winds, rains and chilly atmosphere.  I just hope that they are strong enough to last long enough and the weather doesn’t get the better of them in the end.

In still have high hopes for the final red cabbages that are about to make it to the oven, braised with apples and onions and then to the freezer for our winter store.

The fennel plants which I am pretty chuffed about as they grew from seed are getting almost big enough for harvesting.  Must start to research some nice recipes to cook them in.  I will have no problem knowing what to do with the leeks though.  My supply of soup recipes is endless and I can’t wait to taste these leeks in their purest form.

You can just sneak a peek in the picture above of the broad beans and snow peas growing up the bamboo canes.  Looking forward to them getting taller and cropping in a few weeks.

With summer drawing to a close I’ve planted carrots and parsnips.  A small row each this week and I’ll try another in about 10 days.  This is my experiment to keep a steady supply rather than the boom and bust of our salad crops.

Although the heady days of growing fever have passed I still enjoy checking out what’s happening in the potager.  It struck me that when we set up the kitchen garden proper it will all take a little more effort to walk the short distance to the bottom of the garden.  Bearing in mind that it takes about 5 minutes to walk to the bottom of the garden!