Even though the weather has turned to fall, with almost freezing temperatures at night, stuff still grows. Just look at the size of these sprouts! So far, all except one plant are aphid free, but there has recently been a hatching of snails which are tiny and hide in the top new leaves. So spent some time today picking (I got slimed!) them off and dropping them into a salt pile – ick!
It’s two months since I planted the garden and I have never seen anything grow and produce so fast!
First we had the kale and lettuce, then everything else started coming in. Now th brussels sprouts are waist high with little buds forming, but the plants are so big they have shaded some of the other plants which struggle. So next time I plant, I will have to give them more room.
We had our first batch of green peas the other night and I’ve picked all the cauliflower, including the beautiful purple ones. Last night I made the most delicious cauliflower au gratin. One thing about having a lot of one type of veggie is that I have to get creative with the recipes, which for me, is all part of the fun. The trick now is to start planting for the second part of the summer, and hope things have enough time to mature before the cold hits.
The red cabbage and some cauliflower are already in and I have some scarlet runner beans climbing madly. A New Zealand spinach is doing well, too and it looks like the onions will be ready to pull soon. My tomatoes are finally setting. They were doing nothingfor a while and one of the growers at the farmers market told me the soil is probably too rich and that I must be the bees! So I have been ‘tickling my tomatoes” and the are starting to form en masse and by harvest time, I will probably be wishing I hadn’t bothered!
Today I picked carefully and we have our first salad from the garden. 
It’s amazing! I planted on May 18 – today is June 2 and already our little starts are producing more than enough salad and soon the kale will be big enough to cut. Peas and beans are going nuts; broccoli and cauliflower and brussels sprouts are taking off! I love it!