Drought

The sun we had all week has gone but the weather wasn't as bad as predicted and just as well because I had a lot of planting to get on with. First beans are still quite short despite being covered in flowers, I guess they want a bit of rain.

Second beans have mostly come through now the leaves have been curiously munched around the edges, I seem to remember this happening last year.

After all that sun the strawberries are beginning to flower although the plants again are still rather small.

The rhubarb plants are filling out now but not nearly big enough to start picking. Again I think it must be due to the dry conditions.

After I cut them right back in the autumn the new raspberry canes are popping up everywhere. I hope they do well again this year.

A lone yellow daffodil in flower in the top bed. The white ones are much earlier and have all died out now.

I bought a new greenhouse because the cover on the old one has a lot of holes in it. I'll keep the old one for moving plants into once they've already germinated but it doesn't get so warm with all the holes.

I planted up some cabbages, french beans, patty pan squash and cobnut squash. The idea will be to try and plant a few things up each week so I have a better successive planting this year and avoid too much of a glut.

I put in a row of peas directly into the soil. As soon as they sprout I'll have to cover them otherwise the birds will eat the lot.

And next to the second beans I put in a row of parsnips. They take ages to germinate and don't like it if it's too dry, lets see how they do this year. I also planted my last row of potatoes, only three rows this year.