Garden activity

[British Red]

It’s really getting time to put some major effort into our garden at this time of year

All the tomatoes are now potted on and moved out into the heated greenhouse. We are focusing on San Marzano & Roma this year – good thick flesh, minimal goo, great for canning

Tomatoes potted on by English Countrylife, on Flickr

The seed onions sown in January are also out in the greenhouse. I’ll prick them out next month – these are Rijnsburger. Nice flavour, keep well, open pollinated so we seed save them.
Seed onions by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Speaking of onions, check out these Spring Onions – over a year old, cut many times, over wintered outside and happy as Larry
Over wintered Spring Onion by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Spuds are chitting nicely. We normally only do first earlies to avoid blight but we are going to sack grow maincrop in one of the poly tunnels this year as an experiment

Chitting Potatoes by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Early lettuce is cropping now so time for second sowing
Lettuce by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Potted chillies and peppers up today, but they will stay in another six weeks

Chillies and peppers by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Outdoors it’s easy to tell it’s warming up. We are counting down to rhubarb crumble

Rhubarb by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Wild garlic is being used a lot now – pesto making soon with our own hazelnuts!

Random wild garlic by English Countrylife, on Flickr

What are you up to in the garden?

[jansman]

I have a mixture of perennials and annuals in my 30+ year garden. Tomatoes are growing nicely,peppers too. Broad beans,salad leaves ; the usual stuff. This year I am concentrating on spuds,beans and greens. Reason being that if we have shortages of any kind, that’ll see us through. The perennial garden gives us soft fruits,apples ,pears, plums, rhubarb, alliums ( Welsh onions, Egyptian onions,shallots- I replant immediately upon harvest). I’ve got it to the point where it almost looks after itself,apart from greenhouse work.

[British Red]

Fruit is fantastic once established - I wish I'd planted more plums and gauges at the beginning but hindsight is 20:20. We have loads of everything else

I'm not a fan of broad beans but love things like haricot, Trail of Tears and especially Dutch Brown - a reliable, heavy cropper well worth a try. We are moving more to perennials veg. We've got a full bed of Jerusalem Artichokes now and another of asparagus ( 100 square feet of each). Plan to mulch them heavily with wood chip to keep the weeds down

[jansman]

Fruit is fantastic once established - I wish I'd planted more plums and gauges at the beginning but hindsight is 20:20. We have loads of everything else

I'm not a fan of broad beans but love things like haricot, Trail of Tears and especially Dutch Brown - a reliable, heavy cropper well worth a try. We are moving more to perennials veg. We've got a full bed of Jerusalem Artichokes now and another of asparagus ( 100 square feet of each). Plan to mulch them heavily with wood chip to keep the weeds down

I never got on with Trail Of Tears. My soil didn’t like them. However,Borlotti and Blue Lake beans thrive. And my Lady Di runners are ever- reliable.

[British Red]

So much of this is about what suits local conditions

[jansman]

It’s why I save most of my own seed. My neighbour has grown runner beans for 60+ years,saved seed,and doesn’t remember the variety. I grow Gardeners Delight tomatoes for example,and I reckon I bought the original seed 25 years ago. Works for me.

[British Red]

Us too. Plus I use local varieties. Sharpe's Express potato was developed here. I gave some to our 90+ year old farmer neighbour. His daughter said "Dad loved those potatoes - what variety were they"?

When he found out he told me that he had planted those spuds, right here, when they still ploughed with horses. It was developed just up the road ( and was, apparently, Percy Thrower's favourite)

I know of like that