Living in the shadow of the pea plants (From Blackpool Citizen)

Living in the shadow of the pea plants

11:54am Friday 3rd August 2007

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EVERY now and then my little urban raised bed garden offers up a little surprise, catching me unawares.

Last week it was the cauliflowers which sneaked up and suddenly revealed themselves in all their glory having successfully hidden their talents under lots of green foliage.

Exactly the same happened with my dwarf bean plants which were hidden under the shadow of the pea plants which had grown extremely bushy and unruly.

I was rooting around in the greenery trying to see if the dwarf plants had produced beans at all not being able to see anything but leaves.

But as I began to separate the leaves on the bush I found lots of green beans just hanging in there waiting to be picked.

I had not seen them simply because the beans were virtually the same colour as the foliage and every bean was well hidden away deep inside the plant.

Though not a large plant (they are dwarf beans after all) I managed to pick a good bowlful and quietly stashed them in the fridge after topping and tailing them.

Sadly my pepper plants, right next to the peas and beans, have not fared as well.

Once they were shiny and green and looked as though they were going to produce but now they look browbeaten by both the weather and their domineering and sunlight stealing neighbours.

I think they are lost for this year unless we get a sudden and sustained burst of sunlight, although I know other gardeners have managed to grow these wonderful vegetables. I will try again next year.

My broccoli plants, apart from one purple sprouting variety, appear to have all bolted, or gone to seed and flowered, so I will probably dig those up and compost them soon.

We ate the small fat carrots we put in the raised beds and they were tasty, if a little earthy, but I have lots more "normal" sized carrots in the barrel which I have high hopes for.

I pulled one up the other day and saw that it was healthy but half-grown - so around early September they should be ready.

The leeks also look about one month away from being ready to pop in the pot and, like the carrots, they can be left in the ground, to be used as and when.

The strawberries look only days away from being ripe and ready to be submerged under some lovely cream.

There is a small cluster of tiny tomatoes on one of four outside tomato plants in growbags and another two fruit on two plants I rescued and put in plants on the patio.

The inside plant is still producing fruit - not at the rate we had hoped for as I think I let it grow too big - but it currently has around 18 tomatoes on it which isn't too bad for a novice grower.

The glut of courgettes we have had have kept us on our toes in the kitchen thinking up ways in which we can use courgettes.

I have been told for instance that courgettes are great when done on a barbecue - fat chance of that happening now.

I think we will have to bite the bullet and buy a small greenhouse next year in order to grow, or at least set off, the plants that have not prospered this year.

It will have to be a small one and the only place for it is where the compost bin currently sits. Watch this space.

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