Springing Up!

Just two weeks after starting off my bucket of comfrey tea, you can see that the liquid has now started to brew. We have just had two warm-ish days here in London and as yet, it has not started to stink. No problem! just wait...

Having sown my curcurbit (squash/pumpkin) seeds on 18th April, they have made a great start. They have been inside a heated propagator in the greenhouse on several warm days. The temperature there must have given these seedlings a great start. Also starting to germinate and enjoy the heat in there are my okra seedlings and scotch bonnet chillis.

I planted my seed potatoes in time-honoured gardening tradition on Good Friday March 21st this year. I must admit that these days with my 'no dig' gardening regime I do not go to all the bother of digging out a trench to plant potatoes. The ground is well manured anyway and I just dig a little hole with a hand trowel, perhaps a bit of growmore to help it along - that's all. The last 2 days of sunshine has brought up my potatoes. These are Red Duke of York - you can see the crimson colouring in the leaves already.

I bought one of my strawberry plants into a pot in the greenhouse in early January. It looks as if it is already several weeks ahead of the others. One potential problem for strawberries in the greenhouse like this is that they sometimes do not get pollinated properly, this results in deformed strawberries (should I say physically challenged strawberries?) anyway, you can get over this problem by hand pollinating the flowers with a small paintbrush or Q-tip.

My asparagus has also made about an inch a day in the past couple of days. Everything was just sitting dormant in the garden, now it looks as if Spring has sprung!

Last, may I make a recommendation? Wickes sell 4 bags of multi-purpose compost (75l) for £10. I used it last year, and it is some of the best I've had in a long time.