Its been around 6 weeks since I got the raised bed set up and sown. The vegetables are well on there way, growing well - I think? The dog has since pinched most of my markers so I am not 100% sure what is growing where now. However she has stopped getting on it and flattening the poor plants.

I plan to start cutting a lot of the salads which are growing this week - you can see the large mixed salad leaved at the back have grown nice and large and have to been spoiled too much buy the intense afternoon sun like I feared. In the top right corner I have just planted my cucumber plant - its a bit slow growing however I am hoping it will start growing faster outdoors.

In the front left row is my second crop of carrots I really need to thin these followed on with lettuce, pak choi and I think beetroot?
The middle row gets a bit muddled I think there is onions, chard, spinach and spring onions growing.
The Back row from left is leeks, mixed salad, marigolds and cucumber. Although the leeks could be onions and the leeks could be middle row? Haha who knows - I guess I will eventually find out and make a note for next years crop rotation.

My garden is very narrow and small, it is roughly around 8mx2m. So I tend to use one side of the garden to grow the majority of my plants in this small space. I would happily use both sides, however we currently don't have the space for this as we need easy bike access in and out of the garden.

With this limited amount of ground space you may be surprised to hear I am attempting to grow winter squash. Winter squash (butternut) tends to be a ground dwelling plant and would happily cover a 4ft x 3ft raised bed on its own! This is where vertical gardening comes in! By training and supporting the squash within a cage you can get it to grow upwards rather than out. I have not attempted this before - its going to be my first try. However I have read and seen on you tube that with a little bit of help it can be done. So I have planted both my squash and courgette into a separate large container each ready to start making the support around them.

The recent weather has resulted in some very happy plants. My roses are growing incredibly well with little sign of pests or blackspot this summer. The lilies are getting rather tall and look like they are also going to be another wonderful summer display. I also purchased a Hydrangea this year which was a little bit slow to show signs of growth, however has finally started to shoot leaves.
Among these plants I have 2 mixed summer flower containers and some marigolds growing in the raised bed.

Despite Lily trampling the raised bed a few times when I first sowed the seeds, the bed is growing well. You can finally see each of the squares growing seedlings - each at different speeds. Since my previous blog I have thinned down the lettuce and bok choy which was growing far to closely together. The mixed salad leaves I have left to grow further, although they are crowded they are doing ok and its preventing some of the leaves burning in the afternoon sun.

One thing I have noticed which is due to the pup getting onto the raised bed is that some seeds were mixed across over squares. Mostly the odd carrot, salad or chard seedling. I have decided to leave the odd seedling in place as many of them will grow and be eaten before they become a problem for the leeks and onions - which is mainly where they were spread to.

I mixed up another batch of my 3 part compost and decided to use a spare container to grow another set of lettuce, spinach and chard. I have been keeping my eye on it and I can see seedlings slowly starting to emerge, pushing up through the compost. This was mainly an experiment to A) attempt at getting some correct spacing between plants and B) seeing how little space I can actually get away with.

The bell peppers, chilli peppers and tomatoes appear to be doing ok. The Tomatoes are the red robin variety so will not grow as large this year and may only need a slightly larger container to the one they are already in. The first flowers are starting to set on them so they will soon start being fed.

The bell peppers & chillies appear to be smaller this year, I am not too sure if it is because I have put them outside slightly sooner or because I used a compost which had no food added to it (cheaper wilko variety). I will be potting them on soon to their larger containers and will add some manure which will hopefully help.

Sowing seeds in rows! How do you do it? Especially with the likes of the tiniest seeds such as carrots and mixed salads! My seedlings are coming up in the raised bed and its looking like an order of chaos, not lovely structured rows.

I think I am starting to see my first errors in this years sowing.

My temporary built cage / protection netting has been really rubbish. The dog has been getting through it, along with cats! so some of the soil is really turned up, messy and in some placed dented.
Im going to take some time to redesign the cage making it super animal proof this week.
It is my first time having a raised planter and seeing the seedlings grow is brilliant. However they are really bunched together and all over the place. I definitely need to spend more time sowing the seeds in rows which is easier said than done! As you can see in the pictures I am going to seriously need to thin out a lot of the seedlings, however I am going to let them grow on a little bit more first!

If you have any tips on sowing your tiny seeds I would be very grateful to hear them!