Oh what a beautiful morning !

It was a beautiful, sunny morning down on the patch.   Our fruit trees and bushes are looking very good... the dwarf Cherry looking particularly nice in full blossom.
.

We planted six rows of Potatoes :  Two rows of 'Kerrs Pink' and two rows of 'Cara'.  The first-earlies 'Swift' are already showing well and some should be ready for lifting in early May.
.
Another row of Carrots was sown this morning alongside the other row sown earlier in the week plus Rocket, Lettuce, Beetroot and Kohl Rabi.

Strong to the finish....

  

I planted one full row of Spinach down at the patch today. Half of the row was 'Perpetual' Spinach (Spinach Beet) and the other half was Spinach "Fiorana F1", to get a better indication of which type produces the better yield.

.

Up the garden path !

Now that the edging boards are in place we  have started to establish a grass path down to the compost bin and a grass area around the bin and the cold frame.

Hoopla !

We are establishing the nursery bed where leeks and brassicas are being grown.
.
We have sown Bleau de Solaise and Autumn Giant Leeks,  two varieties of Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts Trafalgar F1, Kale Tosco di Nero, Red Cabbage Rodima, Savoy Cabbage Tarvoy and Capriccio, Cauliflower Candid Charm and Calabrese Belstar F1.
.
An 'enviromesh' cover will be placed over the hoops to prevent attack by birds and insects. In June, we will remove the plants from the nursery bed.  The brassicas will be replanted in another area.  The leeks will be replanted back under the cover where they should develop free from attack by Onion Fly and be ready for the table from November onwards.
.

Onions !

I thought that we ought to have some more onions to see us through the Autumn months and bought a pack of 50 'Hercules' sets from Secretts Garden Centres.

 

This afternoon, I planted these at 6" spacing in the 22' bed and only then realised that one pack would not be sufficient for two rows... so it's back down to Secretts tomorrow for another pack of 50 !

.
Update Friday, March 4th : Another pack of 50 bought and planted this afternoon !

First Earlies

Our first-early potatoes were planted today.

We have put in two rows of the very-early variety 'Swift' which could be providing us with some nice salad potatoes in 10 weeks time.

The Patch in February

We took advantage of the few days of dry weather to get down to the patch for some tidying-up.

The crops sown/planted in the Autumn have survived the Winter really well, considering how low the temperatures fell.
.
The peas at the far-ends of the two cloches were badly affected by frost and we have sown additional seeds which should compensate for the losses. The remainder look healthy and are likely to produce a good crop in May.
.
Our broad beans have been very successful with the young plants now reaching the top of the cloche. We will have to remove the cloche and cover the plants with fleece to prevent them being frost damaged between now and May.
.
The picture above shows the garlic and two varieties of onions that we planted in September. There have been some losses, but there will be enough to provide some onions for the kitchen and the showbench in June.