Looking for signs of life in mid February

A quick dash to the plot on Saturday was worthwhile if only to remind me what it looked like.

It is a constant source of hope and delight to see plants emerging despite all signs to the contrary.The rhubarb is an ealy star and is gradually emerging. Raspberry canes are developing buds (some even have tiny leaves). Onions etc are mainly just sitting there and need a good hoe.

I cleared the obvious perennial weeds eg dandelion. Apparently you can grind dandelion roots down to a sort of coffee and eat the forced young leaves but I gave it a miss. In the mists of my memory this plant is called pisse en lit in French - which I can only assume refers to diuretic properties. Not appealing. I also cut down a small patch of raspberries as an experiment to work out if they are autumn or summer fruiting. I suspect the majority are summer fruiting (while the ones in my garden are definitely Autumn fruiting).

Summer-fruiting raspberries

• Cut back fruited canes to ground level after harvesting; do not leave old stubs
• Select the strongest young canes, around six to eight per plant, and tie them in 8-10cm (3-4in) apart along the wire supports
• Remove the remaining young stems to ground level

Autumn-fruiting raspberries  - Cut back all the canes to ground level in February. Reduce the number of canes slightly in summer if they are very overcrowded.

Finally I sowed broad beans in a hurry in two patches - fingers crossed as the seeds looked a little withered and are close to their best before date. In another experiment I have (almost) covered one row after watering with a long cloche to see if that speeds up germination. One neighbour has proper little plants on show - maybe they have a greenhouse at home. The garden green eyed monster strikes again.