The official gardening season begins

It is Labour Day weekend this weekend, traditionally the time that gardeners around New Zealand start to rev it up a gear. This time last year we were hit by an unexpected frost which did quite a lot of damage to our tender new tomato plants, but this year I've checked the forecast and I'm hoping that temperatures will stay above freezing for the next while. We do have frost cloth but it's difficult to get it over the fence where the tomatoes are being planted, so I'd love it if we didn't need to use any.

Today I planted out some cucumbers which have been basking in the warm temperatures of our conservatory for the last few weeks. I used a beautiful oak dibber which my father made for me (thanks Dad!) to poke holes for them - it was very handy and I'll definitely get a lot of use out of it this year and for years to come.

Check out the size of the broccoli in the background, too - it's huge! There is a very noticeable difference in size between the broccoli in this bed and the one on the other side of the garden. We did use different compost in some of the beds and I wish I'd taken a note of which was which, because I'm guessing that it was the critical factor, but really we're not sure.

Here's the cucumber up close. I love eating this so I hope our four little plants do well. We've just got to add some trellis netting to those green poles at the end of the bed, and in theory the cucumbers will vine up that rather than sprawling on the ground. It's a new technique to me, but the Square Foot Gardeners swear by it so I'll give it a go.