This is the busy time where you can hear the plants growing and panic starts in that you are falling badly behind. Or is that just me?

To make myself feel better here is what I HAVE done (too much that I haven't done to list!):
- Planted Sharps Express on 16th April
- Planted out mangetout but didn't support them well, planted Duke of York potato at row ends, and added an extra row for Maris Piper on 17th April
- I repotted all plug plants and seedlings

- I harvested 840g of rhubarb and made some rhubarb syrup for cocktails. Delicious.


Things that I really must make a priority:
- Sow more seeds (Maybe Cavollo Nero)

I need to establish when can I start to put seedlings out

Frost watch
We were still getting frosts on 27/28 March and we had snow in the 4th April
Just as you thought it was safe. Following 20+ temp on Thursday the temperature plummeted again down to 9ish degrees. Hopefully temporary blip.

Bulbs and blossom are finally emerging (unfortunately so are weeds and snails and I've been told this will be a  bumper year for them - damn)

Warming up now on the 2nd  May (I should hope so too!)

I just planted the last of the potatoes into a bag for the patio - in layers. But I won't be earthing up as apparently it makes no difference.
- Innovator at the bottom
- Purple Majesty in the middle
- Anya on the top
All from a stall at RHS spring show

I also planted out the onion sets which were in modules. While popping them in I noticed the tops of the Jerusalem artichoke are showing through in garden (and the tops of the Charlotte potatoes in the patio bag are just starting to show). On top of that I potted up 6 strawberry plants - I can never resist.

This is such a  busy time and I just can't find time to plant out tomatoes/ chillis/ look after peas properly/ plant brassicas (summer cauli and kohl rabi). I'm also not sure where to put wild garlic - I don't want it to spread but I also don't want it to die out....

Argh... Spring does my head in!

An update from before the rains

1st June (excuse the mixed timeline but I also updated this on the 16th)

The Maris pipers are flowering but are they ready? They are a main crop after all. (I harvested 940g of pentland javelin on the 12th and made salmon and potato salad - yum) I think I'll leave them till I need the space and the other varieties have been harvested.

The peas are nice and fat as are the broad beans. I am always disappointed by the yield of peas once you shell them. The beans on the other hand a great and filling and mashed with some spring onion on sliced ciabatta rubbed with garlic made a delicious pre meal snack. A fortnight later and mangetout are the stars.

I am so enamoured of the beans and mangetout that I will try a second sowing at the weekend. When clearing the old plants I will leave the nitrogen fixing roots in the soil. I will also plan to sow more beans this autumn.

A couple of plants are bolting and going to seed - sorrel and chard. I've pulled up the chard and resown and keep snipping the sorrel spears off.

I am lucky enough to have a surfeit of strawberries way ahead of my birthday. I harvested even the slightly soft ones and lightly boiled them down with sweetener into a sort of jus. Then you can make a pretty healthy pudding. Cut sponge fingers in half line bottom of a medium bowl, pour over half the jus, add more sponge, then the last of the jus, cover in natural yoghurt. Leave to let the flavours mix. Light but tasty. A fortnight later and the raspberries are coming into their own but rarely making it back home - they're just too tempting.

Beetroot is doing well and I can see tiny kohl rabi seedlings.

I still have two spare patches. What to do with them? I am considering maybe planting sweetcorn among squash. A bit like native Americans who traditionally relied on Squash, beans and corn for food.

Raspberries and new growth

The woman who has best raspberry patch on allotment has cut all hers down. Not sure which variety that means she has. One that fruits on new wood clearly. Hope mine aren't that sort as have tied the old wood onto string (should be wire but I didn't have any). Luckily there are also lots of little plantlets which might do the job in case I've done the wrong thing.

The potatoes are starting to poke through. Lots of shoots of rocket (fair enough, as the name suggests, it's supposed to be early) and lots of Maris piper (odd, as supposed to be more of a main crop). Only one of pentland javelin (another early) and nothing showing for Charlotte (perhaps it was one of the Aldi varieties that was less chitted). Being planted in compacted soil might not have harmed the Maris as long as it can bury its roots and create potatoes.

Noticed that the grower of last year's cauliflowers has mulched his strawberries which were magnificent last year.

Potatoes, shallots and garlic

I planted up garlic in among the rhubarb (including the plants I had to move because they are building a new path). The elephant garlic is also looking good.

I have 2 varieties of shallot I planted - Red Sun and Golden Gourmet (two packs of the latter one of which was from Poundland and in fact had more bulbs than the pack from B&Q). Come end of July/ early August I hope to harvest a bumper crop. I planted them in furrows 10cm deep, 10cm apart and kept rows 20cm apart to allow for hoeing. Golden Gourmet is supposed to be sharp while red sun is supposed to be gentler in flavour.

I also harvested the last of the Jerusalem artichokes and replanted a few of the tubers to grow again this year.

I relocated the Swiss Chard as edging to the plot.

Finally, I planted 4 varieties of potato. Positioning the Maris Piper and Charlotte closest to the rhubarb/ garlic to allow the space freed up by the speedy first earlies Rocket and Pentland Javelin to be planted up with something else. I forked over the soil into the trenches so that it would be easier to create a furrow. The only one where I didn't was the Maris Piper and I'm concerned that the soil is too compacted.

I didn't find time to plant the Autumn Bliss raspberry canes from B&Q nor the asparagus crowns from Aldi.