Flower power

I'm not sure the strawberries are supposed to be flowering but they are! I guess that what happens after a warm sunny week. It was grey and windy this afternoon but not as bad as the forecast predicted, I could hear the boat race going on down by the river and helicopters were buzzing about overhead.
I planted up some purple sprouting broccoli and some savoy cabbage in small pots and put them in the cold frame, they both grow very slowly so won't be ready until next winter if they survive.

The oldest broad beans have started to flower as well even though they're only about 15cm tall, this time last year I had only just seen my first shoots.
I also planted a row of peas directly into the soil, it's a little early but I think they'll be okay. As soon as they sprout I'll have to cover them to keep the birds off. I then spent a bit of time weeding.

Some help

As I planted out a couple more rows of spuds I got a little help from the robin. It was quite funny, the trench was quite deep and he wanted to get at the centipedes in the spoil on the other side, occasionally falling in.
A lovely afternoon, I bought a whole host of seeds to plant including some parsnips on a tape which I've already planted. Given their success lat year I might plant another row of them later.

Sunshine

A beautiful sunny day, and really quite warm especially when digging. I'm still having to be careful of my back but I dug over the very front of the plot and put in two rows of first early potatoes.

The new broad beans have nearly all pushed through now, compare the plant above with last autumn planted one below.

The rhubarb is also coming on strong, the red stalks looked great in the sunlight.

The old crown rhubarb was slower to get started but has a lots of stalks and new leaves coming through, The leaves start as pink nubs pushing through the earth before they split open and the leaf unfolds.

Springing

Spring is springing. A mild week with plenty of sunshine has seen the daffodils all open, a week earlier than last year. I cut a few more to take home, unlike last weeks they're already open. I wonder how long they'll last?

I've hurt my back somehow which made it very hard to do any work. I did a bit of weeding, I felt fine when doing it but was in agony trying to stand up again, so i decided to call it a day. Getting back on my bike was very hard work, lifting my leg over the crossbar was nearly impossible.

The second beans have only just started to poke through, if this warmer weather continues I'm sure they'll soon be racing away.

A bit more digging

A bit more digging today, I had a little help from the robin. He comes quite close when I'm digging but gets camera shy when I stop. He darts about looking for things to eat (especially centipedes) i had to take care not to bury him under a spade full of earth.

Hard work

I've started to dig the plot over and it's really hard work. My back aches and the dark soil is the only bit I did today. Although the north wind we've had all week has died down it's still quite cool at the moment but within five minutes of digging I had to take both coats off. I've now got to plan what to plant this year.

A little bit of weak sun shine made it quite pleasant and my first daffodil is almost in bloom!

This is my old rhubarb which is beginning to catch up the newer roots.

A couple of the artichokes died in the snow and frost but those that are left are also growing again.