Let the vegetables begin, 2017

First broad bean harvest, May 2017 (now in June, they're nearly gone!)

We had bought our last vegetables of the season last weekend:  a bag each of carrots and onions, and a rutabaga.  We will henceforth eat only garden veg, hopefully for the next five months (till 20 November) as per my One Year Goal.

Truthfully, we could have stopped buying a couple weeks ago:  things are really taking off!  I harvested the garlic (loads!) the day before I went to the hospital;  I was away from home for a week and the husband picked (to give away) a big bunch of peas, broad beans and a very respectable cauliflower.  The chard has also taken off, and it's really time to think about thinning--and eating--the summer cabbages. 

The only thing we're lacking right now is a good source of onions.  I have a few small spring onions, but the maincrop onions aren't much bigger, and the shallots are still green and growing.  I have a lot of little leeks but we won't eat them till winter/spring.  I suppose I could sow some more spring onions, but I just don't seem to have the knack for them--they mostly don't appear:  slugs, I suspect.  Maybe I'll try them in a pot.

As I'm not quite up to full strength following my hospital stay, I'm glad most of the hard work is already done in my garden.  Time for harvesting and enjoying, and hopefully a bit of preserving;  I've already frozen some extra broad beans, and I think I better start drying chard leaves (they go great in a stew or casserole).