Goodness, how times flies! It's a month since I last posted an entry and lots has happened. The weather has improved, meaning I have been to the allotment a lot, and it has been the Easter holidays which has given me more time. Also, eldest son was home from university and encouraging me to visit the allotment.

Where shall I start? I guess, with the harvest. We have been eating purple sprouting broccoli for some time now, in fact I think today will be the last picking as it is all beginning to go to flower. It has been quite delicious and a totally satisfactory vegetable to grow. We are still picking leeks and spring onions but everything else from last year has finished, except for some spring cabbages which are still not ready to harvest. We have had the first rhubarb of this year - twice already so far, and the first thinnings of the radishes.

The two plots are both looking good - but Home Farm is really beginning to look like we mean business. I have sown red and green salad bowl lettuce and it looks almost ready to pick, the leeks are growing well and so are the iceberg lettuce and the tom thumb lettuce. The parsnips have germinated and the spinach and swiss chard are coming along fine. The onions - winter, sturon and red and the shallots and garlic are all looking good and the beetroot and carrots are taking off. I have sown peas, and some have germinated and others have not - I shall have to fill in the gaps with more seeds. The broad beans are growing, but do not look nearly as good as last year. The strawberries are in full flower, so I am hoping for a good harvest there. The gooseberries have fruit developing on them and I have netted them against the birds - we might even get a bowlful!
In my greenhouse I have three types of brussels sprouts, calabrese, kale, kohl rabi, courgettes, pumpkin, marrow, runner beans, french beans, cucumbers, sunflowers, and cabbage all growing away nicely, ready for transplanting into the alloment as soon as I have prepared to the ground for them.I also planted out my sweetpea seedlings so I'm hoping for a good show of flowers later on.
At Lakey Hill things are improving. Eldest son and I planted the potatoes just before Easter and they are now emerging and almost ready to be earthed up. This weekend I planted three blackcurrant bushes and four dahlias - an odd mixture, to be sure but it should look good. We are still digging and trying to removed as much bindweed as possible - but it is a neverending task. The grass at the top end of the plot had grown to knee height so the tame photographer and eldest son set to with a scythe and garden shears, and did a remarkably good job cutting it down. We will need to get hold of a strimmer, though to keep the grass at bay.Today we acquired a second hand garden shed for Lakey Hill. A friend of mine had one she no longer needed so the tame photographer and I dismantled it this morning and took it to the allotment. Next weekend we will try assembling it and we will be a two shed family (that is excluding the four sheds we have in the garden at home!).