Early May

We got back from Australia to find that things were not entirely happy in the greenhouse in the garden.  Our house sitters had been watering, but many of the tiny seedlings had been eaten by slugs and snails.  So I have started again.  I have now sown: tumbling tomatoes and cherry tomatoes; cabbages of various sorts; those bright green broccoli plants x two trays; purple and white sprouting broccoli; rainbow chard (or silverbeet depending on whether you are in England or Australia); more pumpkins and watermelons; runner beans; more carrot seeds in the carrot boxes to plug the gaps; peppers (capsicums).  Plus we have bought two tomato seedlings, one pumpkin and one squash.

It is TOO EARLY to plant anything out.  We got back to a couple of light frosts which burned the emerging potato seedlings on the allotment.  The Under Gardener has earthed them up vigorously.  One of the other allotment holders had planted his runner beans seedlings outside.  They're dead now!

We are planning a fruit area on the allotment up near the greenhouses.  I am hopeful that the weather will be ok this coming weekend for me to make a start on it.  In the meantime, The Under Gardener is continuing to dig potato beds (we have some micro potatoes more or less ready to go in, and have bought some maincrop seed potatoes from the garden centre - seriously reduced; apparently they think it is getting late for planting potatoes!

We have had our very first ever crop of asparagus from our asparagus bed.  A whole three spears.  There are three or four more on the way.  I think it will be a long time before we are self-sufficient in asparagus!!!  The ones we planted in the autumn two years ago have never produced anything.  The Under Gardener dug them up last week and found they had rotted in the middle.  We shall have to start again with that end of the bed.

The brassicas we planted last season really did not enjoy being buried in the snow not once, not twice, not even three times but FOUR last winter.  They haven't hearted/flowered/produced and are going to seed.  The one exception is the sprouting broccoli which has done very well but which is now finished.  It needed picking rather more often than it has been over the past 6 or 7 weeks for it to keep producing.

We are also planning a rescue of the flower beds which have been taken over by wild strawberries and dandelions.  When there is time!!

Ooooooo - and we've ordered our chicken coop.  We're expecting it in about three or four weeks :-)  The Builder is going to make a run for the chickens, and clear out the nettly wasteland at the bottom of the garden, then we'll be ready to fly.  Or not.  Don't actually want the chooks to fly away

We have just used the last of last season's apples from the freezer, and the first of this year's rhubarb crop.