The end is nigh, or not.

So I planted out the brussels sprouts on Saturday, since when the wind has been doing it's damnedest to rip them out again. We've had a little bit of rain but nowhere near enough to do much good. On the other hand there's plenty of flowers to enjoy and at least the rapture didn't happen yet.

Sprouts

Planted out:

In my garden

Cabbaged

The spring cabbage I sowed last August is doing nicely and providing me with plenty of greens...


...which is just as well because the summer cabbages aren't doing well at all. The dry weather has left them stressed and so vulnerable to pests. This lot are being attacked by flea beetles; they'll never make decent plants and will have to come out.

Peas

The early peas haven't liked the dry weather much either. They're only about two-thirds as tall as normal and won't get much taller as they've started to flower now.

Garlic

I planted these last autumn and although I've lost a few to the dreaded white rot on the whole I'm quite pleased with how they're coming along.

Spuds

First and second earlies and maincrop:

Tomatoes

I'm treating these a bit differently this year with a bit of DIY ring culture - I've planted them straight into their growbags and surrounded each plant with a 20cm bottomless pot which I'll top up with compost as they grow.

Phacelia and californian poppies

These have self-seeded from last year and besides looking beautiful the bees are loving them too.

Ox-eye daisies

I'm well pleased with these. I started them off from seed and planted them out in my orchard last year. Now they're flowering a treat. Hopefully they'll seed themselves around and spread too.

Struggling

May Day. Up the workers. April in central England turned out to be the hottest and driest since records began 350 years ago, ie it didn't rain. At all. The sun is blazing and just to rub it in there's a stiff easterly wind doing it's damnedest to desiccate everything in it's path. It's blowing just cold enough for me not to notice the UV taking my skin off. Not good growing weather. The perennials and anything planted out last year with their roots well down in the soil - the broccoli, asparagus and spinach - is doing well enough, so I won't starve. Even the autumn-planted spring cabbage is hearting up nicely without any watering. But anything planted out this spring is struggling - the peas look sorrowful and the cabbage positively pathetic.

9-star perennial broccoli undersown with trefoil.

In my garden

Out in the country

There's been a police helicopter clattering over our neighbourhood today, disturbing the peace and generally making a nuisance of itself, so I escaped up the fields.

April Is The New June

I shouldn't have to be seeking out the shade at this time of year but that's how it's been. Much too hot and still no rain - so much for April showers.

The cherry-plum, plum and pear blossom has been and and gone and the cherry and apple is out now - about two weeks early.

Eating fresh asparagus, spinach and purple-sprouting broccoli.

The first row of peas are planted out and there's plenty of seedlings on the go in the greenhouse and coldframes. All we need now is some rain.

Blossom time

Cherry

Apple

Early peas

Planted out and growing away:

Broccoli

Spring

So, after one of the coldest winters on record it's been the driest March for fifty years, and with temperatures well above average. Very pleasant but also a little ominous.

Out in the countryside the hawthorn is greening up even as the blackthorn is still in blossom.

I've seen red-tailed bumble bees and orange-tipped and peacock butterflies.

And I like the way the elder sneaks into leaf without me noticing (but then I would wouldn't I).

Sowing time

Sowing lots of seeds this weekend, here's some I did earlier:

Cabbages

Peas

In my garden

Blooming now - hellebores and pulsatilla -