No gardening today as per the osteopath's instructions, but I have severe withdrawal symptoms. So I have been blog reading instead. I am still catching up with all my favourites.

However I promised some photos of the state of play in the kitchen garden. So here they are.

Photo number one shows the 8 raised beds for vegetables. I tidied the first three on the left on Wednesday. The first two were Sq Ft beds last year, and will be this year but slightly modified as explained yesterday (with a continuous row down the middle of each for beans or other tall plants that need staking.)

As you can see I need to dump the weeds in the compost and take inside the veg I harvested...the leeks, chard and fennel.

The far two beds on the left are the shallots (finger weeded on Wednesday, and behind that the garlic and broad beans....also tidied up on Wednesday.

On the right are the two cleaned beds waiting to be marked up as Sq Ft beds. Then there is the bed with the broccoli which I am still waiting to "flower". We finished the brussels which were also in this bed last week.

The far bed is the new one which has now settled, but needs some compost to be added to the soil. In a day or two I'll try some more sieving. I have half done the second bed on the right as you can see.

I still have a lot of work to do on the paths. I am gradually throwing all the stones I find when weeding onto the paths and will eventually buy some gravel to add to this. Then I'll rake it all back, line the paths with that black fabric stuff, and replace the gravel. If it is clean underfoot I will be more inclined to slip out in my slippers to get supplies. At the moment I have to change into wellies which is a bit off putting!

Here you see the strawberry bed and the new asparagus bed behind. Also the fruit bushes in the pots along the tunnel wall.

As you can also see the gutter blew off in the wind. I will stick it all up again when I feel it is safe to do so.
Here is a view inside the tunnel of the raised beds. The first one on the left was a Sq Ft bed all winter. You can't see it but it still has fennel and chard and the pansies that edge it are still a bit flowery.
The next bed has the very healthy stand of Parcel, and some strawberries. The little pots along the edge are the thyme selections I bought last year. They should re sprout although they look rather dead! On the floor at the edge of the bed are the mint plant selections....these have been very useful all winter.

The next bed has all the rocket, and behind it the lambs lettuce, and the strawberries along the front. The salads have been very useful all winter.

The far bed has some lettuce just getting to a useful size, and some mizuna. Also some strawberries along the front.
Here you see a different view of the two bigger beds. As you can see I have marked it into Sq Ft areas. as reported the other day these are sown with carrots, beetroot, parsnips, etc. The radish which mark the parsnip sowing are up already.
The healthy looking pots are the ice plant I rescued from the allotment and potted up ready for my front garden remodel due this year.
The plants in pots along the back of the RH bed are also for the front garden. They are verbena bonariensis which a neighbour gave me.


Typing all this up hasn't really helped the withdrawal symptoms..I so want to get out there....!