Despite the unseasonable weather, our vegetables are putting their best foot forward, and the seed plugs I bought at the end of March continue to thrive. This week’s six is an update on fruit and vegetable progress.
Zucchini Growing in Containers
The Zucchini plugs I bought at the monthly market at the end of March are now beginning to produce babies. I just hope some of the flowers have been pollinated and will grow to full size rather than shrivel and die. This year I have grown in large pots filled with compost and a good dose of manure.
Aubergine Growing in Containers
I have several Aubergine plants, which I have planted with the cucumbers or by themselves in large pots.
Tomato Plants Growing in Containers
Several of the large black tomato plants I grew from seed saved from last year are now beginning to produce baby tomatoes. Fingers crossed they don’t succumb to blight thanks to high humidity and damp weather.
Cherry black tomatoes. Seeds supplied by Fred.
These are the orange cherry tomatoes. Fred, the French Gardener, kindly supplied the seed. I am growing these on the front terrace.
Cucumbers Growing in Containers
So far, so good, and I can already see a cucumber! The plants share the large container with a couple of Aubergine plants.
Yellow Peppers
Planted in a raised bed in full sun. These will probably take the whole summer to produce fruit and ripen.
Vertical Strawberry Planter
After last year’s disaster, I am gradually planting layer by layer, waiting for the roots to establish for several weeks before planting the next. We are now on layer three.
The featured photograph is of mystery veg, which sprouted from the compost heap compost. I think they are either melons or butternut squash.
I will give a shout-out to the lettuce that has grown in crates throughout the year. If you’ve not tried growing lettuce in pots or containers, they are really easy to grow.
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That’s a wrap for this week’s six gardening things on Saturday, folks. Do check out other gardening bloggers at Jim’s place.
Piglet in Portugal 
Lovely to have so much veggies to look forward to!
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Hi Anna, I am praying we both have a good harvest this year. I wish I had some fruit trees, plum, apricot, fig, apple etc and rasberies and tayberries.
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Your garden is certainly much further along than mine! May has been slightly colder than last year so far, this week is supposed to be warmer though. I did plant my peas and sweet potatoes yesterday.
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Hi Maria, the garden is not as advanced as last year. I think it seems pretty general the change in weather patterns. The UK suffering drought and heat and we rain and colder temps.
I wish we could grow seet potsatoes, I love them. Sadly we don’t have the room.
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I’ve never tried sweet potatoes before, it’s a new experiment. Last summer would have been warm, enough, but some summers are too cold, we’ll see what this summer has in store 🙂
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I’ve had very little success with salad greens in a container. Tried it 3 years in different locations. I have no idea why. Man, your garden looks great! I’m just going out to plant most of mine tomorrow.
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I wonder why the salad greens failed. How strange. Maybe it was the soil. but then I only use compost mixed with sandy compost.
Hope the planting goes well and I look forward to seeing an update
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I’m envious of the veggies you’re going to enjoy picked fresh from your gardens. The best I can do is attend farmers markets near here and rely on friends having more produce in their gardens than they can use. Everything looks healthy, Carole and I wish you an abundant harvest!
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Thanks, Terry. I think if everything grows I will be making chutney and pickling the excess. Supporting the farmer’s market is good and the next best thing to growing your own.
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Hi, Carole – I love the idea of growing vegetables in containers. I am not a gardner, but I can usually manage a couple of plants in pots. ❤
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Hi Donna, I think containers are less challenging.
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Your outdoor veg is way further on than my tunnel grown plants but it’s encouraging to be reminded of what’s to come. Nothing compares to salad crops eaten within minutes of harvesting.
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Hi Jim, yep, there is nothing compares to home grown salad crops. We should be harvesting a cucumber or two this week.
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Wow, your vegetables are pretty far along, and we’re just getting ours into the garden. Warmth is forecast in the week ahead, so yay! I love the barrel strawberry planters. Yum! I grew strawberries (in similar planters) years ago when I had a sunnier garden. They are soooo tasty!
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I would love to be able to sow tomatoes outdoors! Mine always look so cramped in the greenhouse – even though the fruits are delish – warm and straight off the vine! Your pepper plants are looking good, I’ve grown them in the past, with mixed results – but I might take you up on trying lettuce in containers. We eat a lot of mixed salad leaves, with peppers, tomatoes & various balsamic dressings. Home grown is always nicer, isn’t it.
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Hi Catherine, I started my toms from seed in the coldrame …I wish I had a greenhouse. Fruit and veg straight from the garden are delicious, especially toms and cucumbers.
The lettuce grow so well in containers. I only pick the outside baby leaves rather than the whole lettuce. I find this works well
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You have a good selection of veg. I always grow tomatoes in containers – although I haven’t bought any tomato plants this year yet. I’m very impressed by the strawberry planter.
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Thanks, Trowel. I remember in the UK using growbags for tomatoes. Is that still a thing?
I am also impressed by the strawberry planter if we can get it to work. 🙂
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Growbags are still a thing over here!
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Right. I”m wondering if I could use them here or they’d get too hot.
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With your top-watering system, your strawberry plant seems to be healthy. It’s good to have changed. Regarding vegetables in containers, I’ve never dared to try aubergines, but why not? It might allow us to have fruit ripen more quickly here in northern Europe.
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Hi Fred, yep so far so good with the strawberries. We will see how the summer progresses. As for the aubergines the root system is not that big so I’ve grown in pots before. At least in pots you can move them to follow the sun.. Good luck 🙂
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