Dinner!

I'm getting fed up of early purple sprouting broccoli every day, so I'm now picking the sprouting bits at the top of the brussels for some green veg!

March butterfly

It seems rather early for butterflies but I've seen a few around - this peacock, a comma that got caught in the laundry, a cabbage white eyeing up my brassicas and others gone too quickly to identify.
The others were shy and only this peacock stayed still for a photo!

picked this week

early purple sprouting broccoli is cropping madly - almost too much to eat!

almost at the end of the brussels - but still managed to pick a few

the spring cabbages though are a bit confused by the warm weather and starting to bolt - so we're eating them as spring greens.

changes

The garden here has always been divided into two - a prettier lawn and flower bed side....

and a practical veg patch side

Now we have an allotment, it seems less necessary to have a dedicated veg patch at home so we're changing things round a bit and opening the whole garden up.

I still want to grow some veg here - it's a better place for small seedlings as there's less problem with birds eating them; some crops such as mangetout peas or salad leaves are better picked as and when they're wanted; and it might be advisable to keep some winter crops here where I can quickly nip out and throw fleece over them if a sudden temperature drop is forecast.

So, there's going to be more of this kind of thing - foxgloves, aquilegia and broccoli growing together

and more of this - decorative vegetables; purple flowered and podded peas, red and white flowered Painted Lady runner beans and mottled red podded borlottis.

Spring Equinox

Some more lovely Spring days and the garden is waking up quickly....









daffodils, early red ridinghood tulips, hyacinths and polyanthus in flower

blossom starting to show on peach and apple trees and montana clematis

tomato, pepper, leek and french beans seedlings growing well

picked this week

Quite a lot of purple broccoli ready at the allotment. I rather wish it would stay this colour after cooking.

Also - on right of pic - some spinach which has survived winter and bits of brussels which are now starting to open, so we could be seeing the last of them soon.

Another couple of smallish leeks - and increasing amount of salady leaves from self-set plants.

Birdbath

I keep thinking I should buy a proper birdbath but the blackbird doesn't seem to care.

picked this week

Not a lot of picking this week - mainly because I didn't get down to the allotment.

These are the last of our parsnips. The row has been cleared out to make way for potatoes which were planted out this week.

Still managing to find odd bits of salad around the garden though as the weather has been warm, I'm eating it quicker than it grows!

picked this week

along with the usual suspects of salad leaves,

leeks and brussels,

I've found some more exciting things this week

in a bowl in the kitchen I have some small cherry tomatoes still ripening from last year - two of them were actually good enough to eat!

down at the allotment, the purple broccoli was ready

to pull along with some scrappy bits of partly frosted cauliflower

Salad Leaves

This week's array of salad leaves - american land cress, lemon balm, chives, 2 sorts of rocket, chinese cabbage and beetroot. I didn't pick any lettuce or spinach as I've planted them out into the garden and don't want to shock them too much.

March flowers

The snowdrops are starting to look a bit straggly

but the new red wallflowers are just coming out

and later purple crocus

and at least one daffodil for St David's Day!