Time to resurrect my gardening blog. Veggies have been started.

Yesterday, in the biting wind I sheltered in my greenhouse and planted the onion sets I've been meaning to plant art the allotment. At least they can get going. 

My tomato plants are coming along and are nearly ready for potting up. I'm a little bemused that last year's expensive seed is haphazard in germination whereas the saved seed and old Henry Doubleday is doing really well.

Last week hubby and I made a start on cutting down the bay tree which has got hugely out of hand. We chopped down each branch and shredded the leaves before cutting down each trunk. We've now got to wait for the brown bin to be emptied before continuing but our work has opened up the garden such a lot already. We couldn't even get down the path easily. Hopefully it will shoot from the bottom and we can keep it under strict control.

We managed to save the wisteria which was climbing through it and will trim it back once it has flowered. It has 1m long flowers and is absolutely wonderful so I wanted to save as many buds as possible. 

I managed to harvest a few bayleaves to dry for cooking. 

I've spend a couple of hours weeding the veg beds her at home which I intend to fully use this year instead of the allotment just in case we aren't allowed there for a while. Its become hugely shaded in the 25 odd years since I set it up due to a huge sycamore growing in another garden so I've tended to only use my allotment but I've decided to make the most of what I have and grow shade tollerant plants like parsley, peas, lettuce and spinach in it.  I've also put my strawberries into new grow bags and they are down there too at the moment. We might move them temporarily to a sunnier patch as they begin to ripen.

Five hours well spent down the allotment.

Today I spent five hours at the allotment and got loads done.  Being a root day in the biodynamic cycle in went the onions and the carrots.

I managed to straighten the final edge and made the side bed about 30cm wider in places.  

I then planted out my Tree onions and the first lot of carrots and covered them in mesh to stop the carrot fly. I also popped in some home harvested radish seed as a cash crop between the tree onions and the potatoes.

The flax seed has germinated!!! I have never grown this before so it should be interesting to see how it grows.

I then planted my onions sets and onions sowed this year.  Just as well we like onions! They did well last year so fingers crossed for the same again this year.

My spring cabbages are making a good recovery from being eaten by slugs in the autumn and my leeks are about to be picked.

Add caption

I also harvested the first crop of rhubarb this year.  Rhubarb and custard it is then!