Though health issues leave me behind schedule in the garden I saw last night that my peas, garlic, shallots, onions and radishes are all poking through and are on track. There is no sign yet of the early spuds or beetroot and this week the kids and I plant leeks, carrots and a second helping of peas. The strawberries and fruit bushes look set for another bumper crop and we already have a glut of rhubarb. However, the annual humiliation has hit me again.
Each year I plant seeds of tomatoes from packets and marrows, chilies, peppers, courgettes and squashes from last year’s crop in pots kept in the chicken shed. And each year at some point I despair as nothing has appeared and go along to the local garden centres to buy small plants in pots.
Five of the tomatoes have come through but the shoots are very small. Will they really grow enough to bear fruit this year or will they just serve up a handful of green tomatoes for frying up? As for the rest, it was a blank canvas. And thus I have started buying not just tomatoes but also the rest. Having managed about half my shop I returned home and, just as happened last year, a marrow and a squash had both suddenly appeared. I am in no doubt that more will follow. It is as if the plants know that I am just handing my cash over to the Duke of Westminster and that prompts them into a massive growth spurt.
Anyhow, in between finishing the weeding out of strawberry patches 3 & 4, the kids and I must finish the preparation of patches B and patch C to plant all of these vegetables out in the first week of May. We are getting there. Photos will follow.