Around the garden this week there is loads to do and there’s loads going on. There is compost to shred and turn, weeding and path maintenance in the orchard, Buxus to be removed in the herb garden, transplanting and weeding the brassica bed  and the upper greenhouse needs to be tidied.

Later in the week we’ll be able to get plants back into the lower cold frame. At the weekend it is Open Garden Squares and Cat will need help on Friday to decorate the entrance and over the weekend to deal with visitors, plant sales and our consultation. What with it being Mighty Hoopla weekend, we could really use all the help we can get…

Talking about our consultation, over 1000 people have already voted in our consultation and the response is overwhelmingly positive. We’ve been so delighted with all the lovely comments people have made. You can read some of them here. Many volunteers have already voted but if you haven’t please VOTE NOW. We need every single volunteer to be involved with this decision.

We’re going to have help from corporate groups on Thursday and the Kitchen Garden Workshop is on Sunday. (All welcome). We’ll be harvesting Broad Beans, Beetroot and various salads at the workshop and replanting the spaces with Chard. There are also Broad Beans to be harvested from the legumes bed in the lower garden.

Opinion is divided about when to harvest Broad Beans. Old-school gardeners wait until the bean is big enough to corrugate the pod. But left this long they are chewy and need lots of prep although they are good in a Broad Bean Dip. Younger beans can be used in a salad straight from the pod and this is how many modern gardeners harvest them. Don’t forget to save enough beans to plant next year.