rhubarb,rhubarb,rhubarb.....

Weather: after a wet and cool few days this morning dawned bright and frosty.

We had the first rhubarb of the year as a rhubarb, ginger and almond crumble at the weekend. It was delicious - as all things from the garden are at this time of year when the flavour is enhanced by the sense of achievement. I never force my rhubarb but it must be an early variety because we always get a pretty early crop. The clump is over 15 years old and it pretty well looks after itself planted under the huge Crimson King Acer at the bottom of the garden just feet from a six foot wall so it gets pretty deep shade in the summer. The only thing I do is mulch it with homemade compost each January.

It was a busy weekend and I didn't get out into the garden - besides it was raining hard. Over and inch of rain on Saturday night. I have declared war on the slugs this year. I found the first small grey slug in the green house having feasted on some Basil seedlings so my campaign is now on. The first of three doses of slug Nematodes arrived in the post last week and are waiting in the fridge for the right conditions (and time) to apply it. The packet says water them on in the late afternoon/early evening and I've decided that tonight is the night! With Easter this weekend and the weather forecast gloomy it seems the perfect time as the soil must remain damp for the next week or so to get them settled in. That is where my last attempt with Nematodes (about 3 years ago) failed. As soon as I had them down the rain stopped falling and the soil dried out.

One of my big disappointments last year was that the slugs got all my runner and french bean plants. This year, Nematodes apart, I am giving them the classic start by digging a trench and filling it it with kitchen waste (a trick I learnt at Garden Organic when I was presenting a gardening feature on a radio show a year or two back). This is supposed, not only to enrich the soil but to help moisture retention. Before filling in my trench I also added a batch of shredded paper- mainly old credit card slips which has a pleasing ring! I can already taste the beans... The only drawback with the site is that part of the row ends up under the aforementioned Crimson King Acer which is a good 35ft high.

The sun is still out and I can spare an hour for gardening before I get down to proper work so I'm off....