Holidays, foxes and tapas

There's a fox (or foxes) at work in the garden. This morning I had been gardening for a few minutes when one climbed out of one of the raised beds and sauntered off. Looking a bit miffed.
Every time I use the organic fertiliser he digs up the watering pots (which is where I sprinkle the fertiliser) and digs holes in the soil. I believe the fertiliser uses chicken manure which would account for the fox's interest. I've tried to fox-proof the veg garden, so volunteers are advised only to use the gate near the greenhouse, and please make sure both gates are closed when you leave. And look out for foxes on arrival!

Well the holidays are here and there's lots of work to be done before we go away to France for a couple of weeks.

Having harvested the potatoes there was a whole empty raised bed to fill. Rather than sowing seeds I planted all of the sunflowers left over from the competition and I added a couple I had grown myself because I couldn't face seeing them die in pots that are too small for them. I then planted three or four tomato plants that were also stuck in smallish pots. These should lead to us having a continuous supply for some months as they were sown much later than those that are fruiting now. If the weather holds out there's no reason why we shouldn't have tomatoes up to October maybe.
Some of the bigger tomatoes are ready to eat now (see pic below), and the first of the cherry tomatoes (Gardener's Delight) are ripe too. The latter are super sweet and will probably all ripen when I'm away, darn. I keep meaning to mention to harvesters that they shouldn't be over-watered as that makes the taste too, er, watery.

The onion bed also has a big space where the onions were. I'll sow some oriental salads there.
For later in the year I have ordered fifty brassica plug plants from dobies.co.uk. These will save loads of time and effort and are relatively cheap. I've also sourced a variety of other winter season goodies including Winter Gem seeds which allegedly produce a crop of Little Gem lettuce through the winter months. I'm traditionally rubbish at brassicas. They should really be planted in concrete like soil and you don't get concrete like soil in raised beds because it doesn't get trodden on. Although I suppose there's nothing to stop me climbing up and stomping around once they've been planted.

The strawberries have shot out lots of runners and I've pushed some of these down into pots with a view to having some nice strawberry plants to sell cheaply at the Sunday sales (see pic right).

Next week I'll sow some more spinach and swiss chard which should appear in early August and be ready to harvest around three weeks later.

An exciting development is that we have started supplying the Lola Roja restaurant with produce. Today we provided a huge bag of french beans, wild garlic, wild rocket, tomatoes & onions. Co-owner Cristina is a mum at Belleville and all proceeds will go to the PTA. In mid August we will start the Sunday sales, as we should have enough produce to supply the restaurant and parents. If you haven't tried Lola Roja you should, it's amazing. And now they've reduced their carbon footprint. Couldn't get much more locally sourced veg!