First fruits

Well, not really, as we've been making our way through the first salad crops for a good while now (and I've been pulling baby plums off the plum tree like nobody's business), but it's been good to see the first tomatoes appear over the last week or so:





Fingers crossed for a nice, mostly sunny summer to give us a big crop of nice ripe tomatoes.

And there are even some broad beans that will be ready soon. Our previous attempts at growing broad beans have been pretty dismal. In our garden in London we just about managed to grow enough for one meal; and last year the plants just gave up the ghost in our non-improved soil. But this year the abundant flowers have given way now to plenty of nice looking beans:



Fingers crossed that they keep going. Broad beans are one of the great treats of summer. Even closer to being eaten, our two containers of potatoes will be ready for harvesting very soon, and the first crop of beetroot should hopefully be ready as early as next week:



Boiled fresh beetroot, sliced and dressed in a little vinaigrette, is something that gives a lunchtime a real lift. Even better when it's from the garden.