Snails

Even the plot sign has snails on it at the moment. Along with the slugs they're munching anything they can, slug pellets are killing so many around the green house that the ground crunches with shells when I walk on it.

The plot is just starting to fill out a bit but I'm at least two weeks behind last year due to the weather. I put up the canes for the french beans, there's a gap on the right where the soil is too thin to plant above a concrete drain.

I planted out six of each of the three varieties of climbing beans. Violette, yellow and green. This leaves a dozen post still needing a plant, I have many more but didn't want to put them all out at once.

Looking down the canes. A few more peas have come up but I still don't really have a decent row of them.

Parsnips have just grown a bit, it's always good to see the true leaves then you know what is what when weeding.

I was eating strawberries at this time in 2011, I just have my first fruits forming this year.

There are a lot of flowers though so I hope to get a bumper crop unless the slug get there first. The rhubarb is also going mad, I've picked so much I might have to freeze some.

The first few pods are showing on the broad bean plants. I picked the growing tops off of them today and will have them for dinner.

The potatoes seem quite content, even the 'missing' one is beginning to come through.

Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb

There's a fine stick of the rhubarb. I didn't pick any last week end giving it a good chance to grow, and with all the rain it's done very well.

There's almost 2Kg of the stuff here, and plenty more to come.

This is the rhubarb bed after picking. Many people see to keep their rhubarb in corner or by the path, I like having a whole row of the stuff.

The potatoes have come on well as have the weeds. I was thinking of earthing them up but my time today was taken up with sorting out the seedlings. Slugs and snails have been running wild with the wet weather and munched quite a few of my babies. I took all the seedlings out, put down a lot of slug pellets and potted up a few new seeds where needed.

The second beans have become a bit weed infested but the soil is still rather damp for walking on so I'll have to tackle that problem later. The first beans suffered rather with the wind and quite a few have blown over, I surrounded them with string and canes to hold them up better.

What I thought were beetroot I have now decided must be turnips! The true leaves coming through have helped me to identify them.

So these tiny rather dark red seedlings must be the beetroot.

And I'm pretty sure that these are the first signs of the parsnips which have germinated reasonably quickly this year.

After the rain

I was keen to see the damage done with all the storms and hail this week.  although a few broad beans had flopped over they had in general benefited from all the rain. They're taller than the garlic now.

Elsewhere the french beans are coming along nicely, only about half have germinated so far. 

A couple of the patty pan squash have also germinated, it's great when these things start to grow.

Not all good news though, both sunflower seeds have germinated but been attacked by snails, despite all the slug pellets I've sprinkled around the greenhouse.

Outside the peas are just beginning to show, I've covered them with a net before the birds spot them.

Also the beetroot has germinated, there's a fine line of small green leaves were they've come up. I'll wait a while before I thin them out.

The strawberry plants are starting to fill out a bit and are still covered in  flowers.

I picked some more rhubarb, my only crop for the moment. They're still a bit on the short side but I can't wait for them to grow any bigger.

The glossy red stalks look amazing in the sunlight.

The second broad beans have also benefited from all the rain, I'm sure they'll catch the first ones up shortly. Nothing new planted today but I might get a chance to put a few things in on Sunday if the weather holds.

Slow grow

It's been much slower this year. Although it was warm in March I think it's been cooler since and although we had a few downpours we haven't really had all that much rain here in Fulham.

The first stirring from the french beans planted two weeks ago, just a couple of them pushing through. Nothing else in the greenhouse has made a move yet, I think it's been too cold for them.

The very first evidence of potatoes, just one plant has become visible  so far.  I did some more planting up today, some purple french beans and some kobacha seeds. The greenhouses are quite full up now!

A lot of strawberry flowers and the raspberry canes seem to keep popping up all over the place.

My first rhubarb this season. Not the longest stalks but I decided to pick some anyway because there's so much of it.

The red green pattern of the stalks never ceases to amaze me, let's hope they taste as good as they look.

Boat race

The noise of helicopters, pa systems and even a blimp must mean it's the boat race again. My garlic is looking good, I watered it yesterday which I think it appreciated.

First beans are getting ever bigger. Not much actually happening on the plot right now, mostly I'm planting things up for later.

The second beans are catching up. I planted up some yellow french beans in the green house, but they won't be planted out until much later.

Rhubarb row is filling out but I not big enough to pick any yet.  Undercover I also planted up some leeks from a free packet of seeds I got last year, I wonder if they'll germinate?

The stalks look good and pink but they need to get a bit longer before I pick them. I've also planted up a few new globe artichoke plants.

The strawberries are still in flower but no evidence of fruit forming as of yet. I planted a couple of sunflower seeds and some nasturtiums to put out later in the spring.

So lots planted up in the two greenhouses but nothing to eat at the moment! This time last year my peas were already sprouting and I had picked my first rhubarb. although we've had the sunshine I guess it's been generally to dry and perhaps a bit cold so far in April this year. 
I heard the live commentary on the boat race and sounded rather exciting what with swimmers and broken oars, Cambridge came home first in an event filled race.

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.