Post holiday blues and greens

It's a bad move to go on holiday for two weeks and leave your veg to their own devices. This blog has been neglected while I wrestle things back into good order.

The tomatoes put on a healthy growing spurt but one that led them to topple over drunkenly. It seems to matter how sturdy my staking at the start, the tomatoes always get unruly and badly behaved. On the plus side, the tomatoes themselves look pretty good, still green but then I rather like green tomato chutney which is just as well in summers like these.

The runner beans also lurched sideways towards the toppling tomatoes. The garden looked like it had suddenly developed a slope towards the road. I have rectified most of it with string and bamboo but my lesson is to make the staking even stronger next year.

On the plus side, I have a fantastic haul of garlic, probably enough to last the winter. It's now hanging up drying inside and it's wonderful to think this will be in our cooking long after it was in our garden. I also have chard, beetroot, and in pots some lovely Lemon Crystal spherical cucumbers.

It's not too late to sow. I have put in some new rocket and coriander, some chinese leaves and I desperately need to get my leek seedlings into the ground. Suddenly winter holidays look like a better idea for a gardener.