Thursday is "T" Day..

 This is it! my first ripe tomato!

 This is my first Sungold tomato grown in a pot on the patio outdoors. Even the ones pampered in the greenhouse aren't this far ahead!

This is a momentous day in any veggie gardeners' calendar. Six long months without tasty toms are finally over!

 

And another new arrival on Matron's allotment this week are these strawberry runners. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard of this brand new, improved variety of strawberry. It is very high yielding, it has high resistance to powdery mildew, it has an excellent flavour, what's more it is a perpetual variety which means it produces fruit continuously from July through to October.  As if that wasn't amazing enough.. the name?   www.buddystrawberry.com   is BUDDY!  Bless the old fella! he would have loved them!

Warm and Wet

 The temperatures here in London have been fairly warm, but the rain is still with us.  My giant pumpkin is making really good progress outside now, planted on top of a specially prepared compost mound.

 The runner beans St George have started to wind around their canes.

 I did leave a couple of last year's leeks to set flowers this year. The bees really love them.

And the most exciting news of all... signs of my first ripe tomato.  This is sungold.

The Spice of Life....

 Yes, variety is the spice of life down on Matron's Allotment. Above are my Cairngorm Pot Leeks growing nicely. Pot leeks are short and fat, whereas the usual long leeks are 'blanch' leeks.

 I just managed to get my 'Dog Beans' planted out before they became too pot bound. These are an unusual variety of dwarf (bush) bean kindly sent to me by a fellow blogger. You might notice the large garlic plant in the middle.. this was one overwintered Elephant Garlic that I left in the soil after planting a crop last year. It has done brilliantly, and a few inches under the soil is a HUGE elephant garlic bulb.  Matron is unsure what to do with it when it is ready. Any ideas for cooking and eating Elephant Garlic please?

 And these Black Pearl Chilli are doing wonderfully in the greenhouse. Just look at this stunning foliage! Kindly sent to me by another kind blogger last year for my Buddy Morris garden (Black veggies). I can't wait to see these tiny little black chillis!

 And the greenhouse tomatoes are romping away. My preferred method here is to gently wind the stems around string. Here the varieties are Sungella, Sungold, Golden Jubilee, Chocolate Cherry and Quebec Beefsteak.

 Runner beanz are looking a bit yellow since I planted them out. I did prepare a super bed for them, perhaps it was a bit rich. Still, these St George runner beans are twining up the poles. I look forward to the red and white flowers.

And finally the 'Lazy Housewife' climbing beanz.  A wonderful old heritage variety that is a spectacularly good-do-er.  Hopefully making good progress if the slugs and the Labradors will stop eating them!