Note sure if it was the extra compost, lots of seaweed solution or actually remembering to top them when the flowers had set this year... but we got about 800g of beans, and I reckon there's still about the same amount yet to be picked. Rose loves eating them raw, so probably there was more like 850g originally! Not sure what's going on with the second planting of peas this season - nothing seems to be germinating which is a pity as Rose loves eating them too. Sugar snap peas are doing well, although a bit of blight is discolouring the leaves although it doesn't seem to affect the peas themselves so I've not done anything about it. Beans are up but looking a bit chewed around the edges. Again, unless it affects the beans themselves I probably won't bother doing anything about it.
Here's an update on all the beds. Broadbeans as above plus a few cucumbers in the front part, onion and carrots bed doing quite well after a late start. This year I accidentally killed off most of my onion seedlings after they got waterlogged, so I bought some shallots and red onion seedlings, well past their prime in a punnet. They seem to be settling in ok though. Tomatoes and zucchini partially in as still waiting to harvest the garlic - also have eggplant seedlins to cram into this bed. The garlic looks pretty sad and thin, although a lot better than the pathetic crop from last year. Not sure what the problem is - maybe they didn't get enough food to start them off. Chillies and capsicum seedlings are looking ok and will get planted out soon too into the root vegie bed, so everything will be really crowded. I'd like to rest beds between seasons but never seem to get the chance! I built a mini greenhouse for my seedlings and cuttings, after one I saw on Gardening Australia, and it seems to working really well. At least my correa and prosthanthera cuttings haven't died yet - not sure why I have such trouble with them as I thought being tough plants they should strike reasonably easily. I'll try to post something about that sometime.
The chickens are a happy little flock now that Caramel has been cured of being broody - a week in chicken prison (aka dog cage) seemed to do the trick.
