Our veggie garden

We had a huge downpour last night, the first proper rain in weeks and weeks which included quite a long heatwave. And while we don't tend to get heat or humidity on, say, the North American or Australian level, mid to high eighties for us in the UK is something we're not used to and some of us don't enjoy - me included! So it was lovely when it broke last night with quite a deluge and everything looks so different the morning after. I couldn't resist taking a few pics of our veggies looking very grateful for their good long drink.

Our veggie garden is not huge, we don't need it for just the two of us, but one of the main reasons we're happy with it this year is that we didn't really get one last year. It was washed away by constant torrential rain and anything that was left was devoured by the plague of slugs and snails that the whole country suffered from in 2012. We got tomatoes from the greenhouse and a few peas and that was about it. This year we have courgettes, runner and French beans, cabbages, sprouts, cauliflower which is now over  and in the freezer, beetroot, shallots, swede, parsnip, leeks, carrots and more. Very pleased indeed.

If you click on the following pics they'll come up bigger of course.

I love these blowsey, yellow flowers that the courgettes (elsewhere called zuccini I think) produce, this one has a bee in it. I only picked these yesterday and it looks like I need to do it again today.

Brussel sprouts! Good healthy plants but we're having the devil of a time keeping the cabbage white butterflies off. We have them netted but they still get in.

The flowering herb, marjoram. Fabulous for attracting the bees. It's usually covered but am guessing the bees were waiting for it to dry off a bit, looking out now they're there.

Runner beans... not right against the wall as they seem to be... notice dark clouds... haven't seen any of those in quite a while.

Honestly, I don't think a small garden like this is the best situation in which to grow corn-on-the-cob. But every year we give it a go. Last year we got nothing, usually they produce 3 or 4 cobs a plant, enough for some wonderful lunches and we freeze the remainder. We'll see what happens this year.

Inside the greenhouse. It looks like a forest of tomatoes when you get closer.

The promise of fried tomatoes. I can already smell the bacon...

Peppers. Still small, also not ideal for our climate, in my opinion but we like to give these things ago and whatever the two plants produce will go nicely in stews in the winter... even though I don't really like them. LOL.

My husband likes to utilise every available space so here we have a courgette plant growing inside one of the runner bean wigwams.

Down the garden path...

... and over the hills and far away.

I will confess here that my husband is the gardener, not me. I enjoy pottering and I tend to be the main harvester of whatever the garden produces... but he grows it all, not me. I am however grateful for a husband who loves to grow things to eat and always has. In just over a week we'll have been married 40 years and I can honestly say there has never been a year when he hasn't grown vegetables, *even* the year 2001 when he had a triple heart-bypass in August. I think I must've helped a bit more that year though. LOL! And that wasn't this garden either it was a much bigger one elsewhere. I've said before that I think that we live a sort of 1950s lifestyle where our lives are not centred much outside the home, but more concentrated on family, home, garden, books. We're a touch anti-social and we know it, but that's ok I hope. 40 years must mean it works for us!