Best of the garden

It's no Chelsea medal-winner, but these are my favourite views in my garden at the moment:

Estos son mis rincones favoritos en el jardin este mes:

Last of the raised beds and first of the beans

Today I finally finished making the "raised beds" at the allotment. It's really just a few recycled low boards around the soil, but I really find it easier to plant in boxes and I like the look. These two at the back that I did today are the last. In the bigger one I'm going to plant the cauliflowers and cabbages, and a row of of borlotti beans:

In the strip by the fence I've planted some bulbs (iris and gladioli) at the front, and behind (in front of the peas) I'm going to put the cucumbers, currently growing in pots in the shed, when the weather warms up:

The beans were growing too long and floppy in their pots, so I had to plant them out. I thought the weather was warm enough, but almost all the plants show damage on their leaves. I'm going to sow fresh seed along the line, in case these plants don't survive. I'm happy with the structure, though, and in between the beans I've planted seedlings of lollo rossa lettuce (barely visible, as they're dark red):

The courgette plants were getting too big in their pots too, so I had to plant two of them out. These plastic covers don't look great but hopefully won't need to stay very long. However, I kept the two smallest in the shed, should these not survive the cold!

And the last thing I did this morning: I've planted up the last corner of my proper raised bed with lettuce and some herbs that don't mind a bit of shade (this bed is next to a big fence and is the shadiest of my allotment spaces): rocket, parsley, rosemary and chives.