Easter Update

A warm dry April has provided ideal growing conditions – if only we could find sufficient time away from http://www.butterwickwells.co.uk/ to take advantage of the good weather. The big allotment re-design will have to wait another year!

Progress update:
A1 – Originally earmarked for sunflowers, but switched to Broad Beans, planted out over Easter after a week or so outside at home to acclimatise to early April indoor sowing. Slightly droopy at first so hopefully they will toughen up quick.

B1 – POTATOES (international Kidney aka Jersey) planted out early April, good amount of growth now peeking out. Will have to watch for any frosts.

B2 – still to prepare for... sweet corn?

C1 – LETTUCE planted between last year’s leeks which are approaching readiness – Couple of unsuccessful attempts, with a couple of lines of seedlings mysteriously vanishing overnight. Stalks still in ground, but nothing above... unlikely to be slugs as too dry and sanded around. Possibly slugs/snails, or more likely mice?

C2 – prepared ready for peas (first batch just sown at home)

D1 – LETTUCE – third batch planted out, of slightly bigger, seedlings so hope they will fare better.

D2 – ONIONS and GARLIC coming along nicely.

E1 – New carrot raised bed installed but a little light on soil.

E2 – Still a handful of SPRING CABBAGES cropping, with Main POTATOES (Wilja) belatedly put in around them over Easter.

F1 – prepared.

F2 – still to prepare for Brassicas (Plenty of Cabbage, Savoy, Kale seedlings on the go) – an early line of radish slowly up to marble size. Another week or so and may start to crop.

Other seedlings in progress... beetroot, sunflowers, chillies, peppers, tomatoes, basil, and sage, well only 1 sage germinated so far. Need to start off another round of salads and a few more savoy as low germination rate from first batch.

G1 – RHUBARB – Forced batch finally rocketed in the heat and were pushing bin off, so cropping and eating away. The batch in H2 is getting a bit out of control so will need splitting and moving (although as nowhere to put them, may sell/donate instead).

G2/H1 – Blackcurrants, Redcurrants, Blueberries and Gooseberries all seem to be flowering well with the promise of a bumper crop this year.

H2 – Pears and Cherry Trees all blossoming well, with cherry-lets just starting to form!

Yellow

With three races squeezed into the weekend, there was barely time to do much but with the warm weather everything is growing fast... especially the weeds.

Daffodils that arrived late are already starting to wilt away with red tulips taking their place as the dominant colour in the garden - that is apart from the forced rhubarb. 

Under the dustbin, a week or so of warmth had rocketed them to the top, so I have taken the lid off and cropped the first few stalks. (It's absolutely criminal the prices charged for a few spindly stalks by the supermarkets for this abundant weed).  Even after a couple of days of sun the bright yellow leaves stand out from across the valley!

The first early batch of lettuce seedlings planted out last week have vanished without a trace.  No sign of slug trails, so unsure as to the culprit?  Replaced with more... half covered/ half open.  Suspect many of these will go, but always a good barometer of predators for the more vital seedlings. 

Seedlings coming out of our ears at home, a cooler week should slow their progress.