Tiptoe through the Tulips

Weather: Overnight frosts for the last three or four nights but bright days with just the occasional heavy April shower!

This morning's sunshine quickly melted the frost off the Tulips - but the cool April has kept these blooms back. I haven't got a note of the date they flowered last year but I suspect they were virtually over because we had such a warm April last year.

Frost or not I saw the first swallow on Sunday (13th) and this morning one was sitting in the sunshine on the telephone wires near the house.

I ordered seed potatoes and shallots as a bit of an afterthought this year and they arrived this morning. I would usually chit my potatoes but it's a bit late to leave them out long. As soon as I'm sure the soil is warm enough they are going in! I've got limited space so I have just 5 tubers of Harlequin (a cross between Pink Fir Apple - which I've grown with great success in the past - and Charlotte, an early main crop) and an heirloom variety with red flesh called Highland Burgundy (10 tubers). These are also a main crop.

After my frustrating time with veg last year I'm not 'saving space' for later crops that may or may not materialise. We've also come up with a cunning plan to enlarge our veg plot. It means moving the greenhouse and the shed and probably won't be completed this year but Bill has already started putting down the foundations for the greenhouse. The next problem will be how to move it. It is an all metal structure that we constructed on site from the instructions - adding in the glass as we went. Any thoughts on the best method of shifting it ten feet would be gratefully received! I suspect we will have to dismantle it.....

Other things done since my last post: I planted the shallots that arrived this morning - the are called Red Sun and they are big fat bulbs. I planted out Tom Thumb lettuce plants that I've been hardening off as they are too big for the pots I grew them in (my lettuces have been a huge success so far this year. Fingers crossed).

How is my lunar 'In Tune with the Moon' gardening calendar going? Well not too well so far. It would be fine if I could get out in the garden every day but my gardening, like most of us I suspect, has to fit round the other things in my life! Although I do see that Friday (a root day with a descending moon) would be a good day for planting my potatoes. I'll put it in the diary!