Vegmonkey and the Mrs.

With all this rain we’ve been having the last couple of days, followed by the sun, stuff in the garden has gone nuts. It’s my fave gardening time of year as there is so much to go outside and have a look at after work!

I’ve planted a couple of the usual bog standard ‘Defender’ courgette plants, just ‘cos they are so easy to grow and give lots of reward for very little effort. The other two plants are a pumpkin kinda-thing called a ‘Gourd.’  I see a lot of inedible ones which can be used for decoration, but this is a variety called ‘Uchiki Kuri,‘ and is more like a Squash than anything else, and can be eaten.

I think the thing that attracted me to this was the nice bright orange skin, but also its apparent nutty flavour. The fruits also store well, not that we will have a huge amount from the 1.2 by 2.4 metre bed dedicated to these little beauties.

The plants went in late as the bed was being used for early potatoes and Japanese Onions. It didn’t matter in the end, as the courgettes have pretty much caught up with anything i could have put in earlier.  The Defender is above, while the Uchiki Kuri plant pics are below. I had to remove the flower yesterday and was worried that the first fruit of the season would rot, which would be good (mum!)…

I’m having to use canes to peg the plant inside the boundaries of the bed this year, so that it doesn’t disappear onto the slate or provide a ‘bridge’ for slugs and snails to cross the copper.  In the bed also are a load of lettuce variety plants to fill the space while other stuff is growing, and 4 sweetcorn plants which are tall and growing nicely.