Back from Italy and into action! I have planted 50 each of red onions, Red Baron and a wonderful white onion called Sturon. I have dug the asparagus bed and planted ten crowns of asparagus. It was much less hard work than I had thought, really pleased with how well the manured soil turns over and so far no terrible weeds! It was fun to spread the ten crowns of Gijnlim asparagus on a small ridge in a trench and make sure that all their roots had space. I will
leave them like that on the ridge covered with about three inches of earth and then at the end of the summer I will cover them so that they are on a ridge for next year.
The Patch is filling up! You can see the asparagus trench with the potato plants now flourishing around it and the strawberries moved into position and coming into flower.
At this end you can see leeks and then further down a row of perpetual spinach and broad beans before the potatoes.
So satisfying...so much to do!
The Pandora leeks are doing well, they will be joined by a lot of Musselborough leeks as a maincrop. I love leeks and use them as a base for so many soups and sauces.
Here are the first sowings of carrots at the front - I sowed Flyaway F1 which is resistant to carrot fly and they were delicious! Behind them you can see the parsnips which germinated fairly well, a bit patchy. They are Avon Resister and were also delicious and .....HUGE. You can just see the broad beans behind them.
Perpetual spinach on the other side of the broad beans and a path which needs hoeing.
Here are the first pea plants protected from pigeons by CD's hanging from string. They are Kelvedon Wonder, a dwarf pea which were spectacular. I have sown them in a staggered zig zag pattern, starting them off in modules as we have mice being on a farm and they love pea seeds. All was well until later in the season when I found neat piles of chewed pods under the peas and realised that mice had eaten most of the crop leaving the pods behind. Protected by the rabbit fence and the courgette leaves providing a canopy of safety from the barn owl they were having a right old time with my peas living in a hole within inches of a perfect larder! A children's book needs to be written!
Looking good!
The two little temporary greenhouses did well. Romanesco broccoli, Red Arrow purple sprouting, Musselborough leeks, climbing French beans Fasold, dwarf French beans Masterpiece, Tamina Tomatoes and Tumbling Toms, four cauliflower (disasterous!) and seven types of zucchini. My favourite and most reliable is Defender but I also sowed Patti Pan, Gold rush which is a yellow one, yellow scallop, de Nizza which is a round one, Griselle, yellow scallop and Black Beauty.
French Beans in peat pots to protect the seed from the mice when they go in the Patch
Tamina Tomatoes - such beautiful leaves and looking healthy.
The strawberries in pots are already producing in May - we have to compete with the birds though and long for a fruit net next year! I feed them with tomato fertiliser and it works a dream. Picking them for a summer breakfast with yoghurt...
