April update (what happened to March ??)

I haven't yet quite managed to do a post every week as I promised I would . Mind you - not a lot has been happening that you can look at since February. But here we are at the beginning of April and there's been quite a few changes.

For the first time I'm trying to grow strawberries. These were put in last Autumn and they are looking pretty good so far. There are two dozen more like this, so soon it should be big juicy berries to look at. The straw is supposed to dissuade the slugs, protect from frost and prevent the berries touching the ground.

Another newcomer for 2009 is shallotts. Don't know why we haven't grown these in the past. These are called "Pikant" and were put in at the beginning of March. At the same time I also put in some red onions, white onions and some garlic. They're also coming along great. We were a little late last year with our onions and the weather was freaky, so we didn't do too well. So fingers crossed for onions, shallots and garlic !

These little fellas are 10 day old turnips. I grew them, accidentally, for the first time last year. They were supposed to be carrots, but I got the seed mixed up and ended up with turnips. But they were delicious. We picked them when they were still quite small - after about 8 weeks growth - and were pleasantly suprised by the taste. So lets hope I can repeat the accidental success from 2008 ! There's also parsnips, carrotts, and radish and I'll be putting some swedes in, in about 4 weeks time.

Another of my favourites is broad beans. Theses were put in at the beginning of March and are looking good so far - though as you can see something has already started to nibble the leaves ! Last year the broad beans were doing really well until about 3 weeks before picking, then they all got some horrible big brown spots on the leaves and expired. Other folks on the allotty had the same problem. I notice that this year some folks have protected their broad beans by putting them inside of tent made from "Agrilan" which is a very fine mesh net. I have done the same with some of mine so we'll see what difference it makes.

We've also got cauliflowers, savoy cabbage, broad beans, beetroot and peas. They are all under Agrilan netting at the moment and a bit hard to see until they get a bigger, so no indivual photos yet. I've also got two long rows of early potatoes, but they are not showing yet. This general view is from the shed. Front right are the cauliflowers, under the fine mesh net. Next to them are onions and on the far left are the radishes, parsnips and some more turnips. The next bed, running the width of the picture is empty at the moment, but will soon have dwarf french beans. Beyond that onions and empty beds awaiting courgettes. The little rectangular frame is the carrot box and beyond that broad beans and cabbages.