...out like a lamb?

Weather: 14C after a mild night

It was always going to happen - once the spring was here there is so much to do in the garden that it leaves little time for blogging about it! But after a windy March the early days of April have been mild and calmer.

The Lamb's Lettuce that I grew in a big pot over winter in the greenhouse has come in to its own. I've often thought about growing winter salad leaves but never got round to it properly and this is lovely stuff. Its flavour could be described as bland but it has a fresh smell and taste that summons up memories of wet grass and buttercups in spring from my childhood in the west country. And best of all - mixed with a few outer leaves from the Little Gem lettuces I sowed very early on in the propagator and some of the Rocket that stood in the garden over winter and is putting on new growth - makes a great 'nil food miles' salad. (Not counting the Olive oil etc in the dressing).

I had pricked out 10 or so Little Gem lettuces into a tray and the day before yesterday planted them out in a cold frame/raised bed. It is an old (and somewhat despised!) plastic cold frame that in desperation I sunk about six inches into the soil and filled with earth last year in an effort to deter slugs. I protected the edges with copper tape which did have some effect. This is now coming into its own because the soil is about five inches from the top of the plastic sides and the original lid fits on nicely to warm the earth for seedlings. But back to the Little Gems - on the first night out two plants were nibbled and in the morning the culprit was spotted inside the copper cordon (which incidentally I also treated with slug nematodes 10 days ago).

I added an extra barrier yestderday - I surrounded each plant with a circle of sawdust. This morning. No more nibbling. The first battle in the war against the slugs is won!

Other things done in the garden this week: Sowed row of Parsnips with Radishes as a catch crop indicator. Plus a short row of Salsify - this is the first time I've tried Salsify.

Back filled the bean trench. Applied slug nematodes on the whole of the vegetable garden and on particularly troublesome flower beds (the weather has been wet to damp ever since which bodes well for their efficacy this year).

Pricked out Black Russian and Costoluto Firorentino tomatoes, plus aubergines into individual pots and left them in the propagator. The Costoluto Firorentino are new to me this year - the Black Russian is three year old seed so I am particularly delighted with their germination!

Sowed a few early seeds in pots in the greenhouse: courgettes, cucumbers, climbing french beans and runner beans to bring on. With luck this will keep me ahead of the game later in the season.

Obtained permission (from the council and the owner) to have an elder tree and a sycamore tree on a neighbour's land that were shading my garden to be cut down. This was done this week so there will be a little extra light in my patch this year.

Chili seedlings (Prairie Fire) that I sowed in the propagator on March 3rd and had given up on have germinated after all. There are four showing now.

That's it for now....phew