picked this week

first leek of the season
a dinner's worth of brussels - they're not very big now but a little sunshine and warmth will open them all

sowing again

seed sowing again- carentan leeks, bridge brussels and merveille des quatres saisons lettuce in the greenhouse.

greenhouse seedlings

have had seedlings out in the greenhouse all winter and, with double glazing from the plastic greenhouse and propagators, they've survived!

really small lupins












all year round cauliflowers























spinach leaves











winter density lettuce

after the snow

a couple of mild days have started bringing spring flowers into bud at last.

later yellow crocus - only a couple of the early botanical ones but these didn't survive the snow


dark purple and paler Pickwick crocus

















flowers on the rather straggly polyanthus














and lots of snowdrops

last year's chillies

last year's chillies have been hanging drying out over a radiator since autumn and I've at last taken them down and packed them into a jar because all the older ones are now used up. was a bit worried that I didn't have all that many here but, having tried half a chilli in lunch time's soup, they seem quite hot. normally I grow Cayenne chillies but these were Super Hot F1 chillies from Johnsons - supposedly a dwarf patio variety which I tried to grow on the kitchen windowsill but they grew too big and ended up out in the greenhouse.

seeds and mice

warmer day yesterday so back to sowing seeds. two sorts of carrots - mini Amsterdam3 and full size Nantes2 - and scarlet globe radish out in the garden under a fleece cover, boltardy beetroot in plug pots in the greenhouse and sweet crunch cucumbers and super roma tomatoes in the propagator.

meanwhile overnight, something -probably a mouse - has been digging holes in the broad bean pots. luckily the seeds are sprouting and look untouched. put sprigs of holly around them now which is supposed to deter mice.

the overwintering peas also look nibbled through, though could be just broken by weekend's snow.

lifting leeks

lifted the first (hopefully) of the leeks. we always grow the over-wintering varieties, sowing in spring, growing in a seed bed over summer when we're short of space and then planting out in September, to be ready to crop late winter/spring.

odd one out

one odd plain white flower on the azalea

snowdrops in snowdrift

snowdrops buried this morning by overnight snow

snow again!

3 - 4 inches of snow overnight and flowers and veg all covered.
one plant visible in early pea row.



spring cabbages almost covered.

thawing quickly after lunch in warm sunshine but forecast is for more snow this week.

seeds again

sown a second batch of feltham first peas in pots in the greenhouse today and some more peppers inside.

first crocuses coming through at last.

damp, cold day with sleety snow this afternoon.

getting ready

a week of starting to get the garden ready for spring.
many more snowdrops are in bud now and some are in flower, not slowed down by a slight snowfall on Wednesday. there should be some of the small yellow 'botanical' crocus flowering alongside the snowdrops but can find no signs of them.

tomato and flower seeds are beginning to grow so have moved them, still in a propagator to a windowsill- moving them to follow the sun in the afternoon- and have been sowing more seeds to place in the airing cupboard -Harbinger and Gartenperle tomatoes, Luxury and Crystal Lemon cucumbers, Worldbeater and Cayenne peppers and some home grown flower seeds that I hope are delphiniums, but could be aquilegias.

spring

snowdrops really coming through now































the alpine strawberry that grew over winter appears to be ripening, though I can't imagine it will be edible







one solitary flower on the forsythia







rhubarb starting to come through

picked this week

not a lot to eat from the garden - a dinner's worth of brussels sprouts and some small scrappy bits of broccoli.

seeds and seedlings

a warmer day, or at least less cold, but a real feel of Spring in the air this afternoon. onion seeds now coming through so I've moved them to the windowsill. setting flower seeds today - veronica longifolia, diascia and rudbeckia indian summer - and some more peppers and chillies.

tomato seedlings

hard frost again overnight but the tomato seedling are coming up in the propagator -2 Big Boy and 3 Moneymaker. not planning on growing so many tomatoes this year as we need to grow them in the greenhouse to avoid blight (hopefully)