Veggie progress

Oh dear. I remember thinking last year that it was a slow, disappointing start to the growing season, and being alarmed when I saw photos from a similar point in 2010 and seeing just how much more advanced everything was. This year I'm feeling the same way about June and July 2011 :(  OK, so I can tell it wasn't a great year, but by this point we had ripe cherries and 2 days later we were picking courgettes. Not a hope of that yet in 2012!

Things that appear to be doing well
Blueberries
Sunset and Broadholme Beauty apples
Gooseberries
Onions - I'm sure we don't have anywhere near as many as we planted in the Autumn, but many of them are HUGE
Rhubarb - drowing in the stuff. I plan to try and dehydrate a load over the Summer for use in crumbles in the Winter
Tomatoes - seem to be healthier plants than last year
Runner beans  - looking good so far
Broad beans, although not as good as other allotmenters as I didn't tame them with wires
Red cabbages
Redcurrants - lots and lots growing, waiting for them to ripen

Things that are  NOT doing well
Butternut squash, they look very sad
Carrots and beetroot - finally, FINALLY got some to germinate. It was about my 4th attempt!
Raspberries. Tons of new growth, hardly any fruiting canes this year. I pruned a bit too much last November.
Blackcurrants - bushes gone wild, not much fruit, need a good prune
Strawberries at home - chickens ate them so they're very slow
Artichoke, it died. Again.
Dwarf french beans - slugs just find them too tasty
Plum and cherry - not much fruit this year
All the other apples and pears - no fruit at all :(
Rocket - it just bolts straight away! Lettuce didn't even grow.

Jury's still out
Potatoes
Courgette
The orange squashes, name escapes me, last year they were smaller than satsumas when ripened!
Cucumbers
Sweetcorn, looks very small and yellow
Green cabbages and cauliflowers - small, some didn't survive the hot weather and slug attack
Elephant garlic and shallots - they flowered
Garlic - they got rust (although we did dig one up today and the bulb looks gorgeous)
Red onions - VERY teeny
Telephone peas - growing taller

I hadn't actually realised how much I'm growing! I've grown a lot of the above from seed but I'm a busy lady at the moment so feel less guilty about just buying plants. It's still cheaper than just buying the veg from Tesco, right? :)  I placed an order from Vegetable Plants Direct and am awaiting 5 broccoli plants, some beetroot (I ordered thse before I realised that my beetroot is actually growing from seed at last, but I only ordered £1.50 worth so I don't mind at all), a chocolate brown tomato, a yellow tomato, Hallow'een pumpkin, a squash that tastes and looks like Butternut but is bigger and green skinned, and a third cucumber plant. I'm not convinced it's not a little late to be planting stuff out but it's worth a go. We might have another Indian Summer :)