At this time of year you either see weeds sprouting through with the beetroot and carrots or a perfectly manicured plot. We tend to favour a few weeds, mainly because I am a bit clumsy and it is very easy to accidentally remove seedlings, so I just hoe as close as I dare and pick the biggest offenders out by hand. I do try, but bending over for hours on end is not the best way to see the world. But it is tiring and unless we have a decent carrot crop this year, and not one riddled with carrot fly we shall not be bothering with them again and instead shall grow and plant a row of globe artichokes and buy some organic carrots locally instead. Although, I will miss that carroty flavour, there’s nothing like a fresh carrot, the flavour is so strong compared to shop bought.

But enough of my musings, what is happening on the plot. Well there is a lot of green, its always promising at this time of the year, before the bugs or fungus get a hold, and promising swathes of verdant there are.

And a bit of blue.

The blueberries are having a field day. We only have one tiny bush, it must measure less than a metre tall, but boy is it loaded with berries this year. It must have enjoyed the compost we put on it in the autumn, must remember to do that again.

All of the peas, beans and mange tout are doing well. The greenhouse is full of tomatoes and cucumbers flowering, we are eating our lettuce and spring onions nearly every day. The new potatoes have yet to flower but the plants are looking good. Pumpkins and courgettes seem to be doing okay. The beetroot is coming on nicely, all the brassicas are doing well.

We have a swathe of two varieties of corn on the cobs, which will do very nicely when they are ripe. There are never any wasted!

And a new one this year, Brokali Atlantis, an F1 of a combination of broccoli and kale, hence the spelling. Apparently it produces delicious sweet long tender shoots and is a combination of Chinese and European brocolli and has the potential for high yields. And from what I remember it has a reasonable germination rate. I know it is vigorous and is doing well, I may well crop a little after this bout or two of rain to see what we have.