I have finally got round to putting the sketch of the raised veg beds on the computer - we roughed it out when I sowed but it has stayed on a scrap of paper since then!

I don't use labels so this is the main method of recording what I have sown where, along with keeping the seed packets so I can see how the veg do compared to the recommendations.

The raised beds were rather thrown up using reclaimed timber from the shed I demolished in the garden and from shelves removed in the house. I hadn't intended to do much with the garden this year but then I wouldn't be keeping this blog if I hadn't.

The soil here is good, well draining and quite light. The garden hasn't had much cultivation so the soil is not stressed or tired and since its been left alone the microbes should be in good volumes. I tried to do the minimum of digging as I set the beds up, using turfs that were unwanted upside down in the bottom - bit of a risk because it will take a while for the roots to breakdown but the rotting grass should help with feeding. Then I added spare topsoil from elsewhere in the garden (cutting the lawn into a circle and digging out to start the pond gave me some spare) as well as what compost I have available. For next year it will need a good feed over the winter and a good compost mulch but there should be enough nutrition for most of this year's plants and I can supplement with organic feeds.

Of course it will also form the basis for remembering rotations in subsequent years.

Each bed is approximately 1m square. I have looked for varieties that either crop quickly or that are compact in habit. SO the broad beans are EXPRESS and will be ready to pick over this next week. We will probably get enough for two meals. The carrots are a small root variety - I am not keen on carrots but they are good for us. I have started taking the odd part grown thinning and they are tasty but seem very slow this year, although they look healthy. The cabbages are looking good - if anything slightly leggy (possibly from being under fleece for longer than usual - wanted to keep the beds warm enough in these northern climes!) but touch wood no sign of c*ter**ll**s so far.

The sweetcorn is the mini cob type - we prefer these and there isn't room to grow a block of larger varieties. I have split this into two blocks with dwarf french beans in between (sort of three sisters bed). The courgettes were slow to germinate and don't seem to be growing huge, but they are full of buds so hopefully they are just about to get going. I have left two in the veg bed and I have two I can plant into a border.

I started tomatoes and lettuces under glass and the lettuces transplanted a few weeks ago (under mini plastic bottle cloches initially) have done well and are starting to hearten up. I have had a couple already and they are fresh and lettucey. The tomatoes are very slow to get going but I have used the bottle cloches for them as well and they do seem to be progressing constantly so fingers crossed.

Sweet Peas

I love sweet peas and I needed something that would quickly scramble up the new trellis fence on our eastern boundary (that makes us sound grand doesn't it - like we have a huge garden!).

I sowed the seeds in a window propagator early in the spring in our spare room. They germinated really well. Before it was fit to plant them out they had got a bit leggy and I wasn't sure they would make it.

Once planted out they were a little slow getting going but they have survived torrential rain and strong gales and all of a sudden this week they had buds and then flowers. This is the first picking, along with some of the variegated lamium and some vetch which as just grown. I have picked about 10 stems each morning this week. I have subsequently added the poppy seed heads I have taken off the field poppies which have popped up everywhere.

This first vase is just about done after 6 days, but there are plenty more to come and if I don't pick them the plants will stop flowering - best of both worlds?

I planted up some window boxes for the front too - I bought plug plants at the supermarket, including upright and trailing fuschias; geraniums; lobelia and violas. I added a sweet pea and a nasturtium (sown by me) to each to give height at one side and drop at the other. The violas have been so prolific it looked like they were going to take over, but through careful dead heading and removing a few to some new hanging baskets I have got a balance. The lobelia is coming into its own, the fuschias are covered in bud and the nasturtium (one died) is in full flower. The sweet peas are just starting to flower too and the geraniums are growing so should get flower from them soon. The window boxes are brilliant - they were from Lidl and they have an inbuilt reservoir so drainage and watering are less of an issue. The window boxes are out at the front and I will have to pop across the road sometime and take photos.