I'll have a Pea please...

Weather: April showers with a few sunny intervals. Cool...9C

I have planted out the peas (Avola) which I grew in a polystyrene box that arrived as packaging. I have put them amongst the peas I sowed directly into the ground a couple of weeks ago...I say amongst, as only two seedlings have appeared. As there are few slugs (due to the success so far of my nematode campaign) I can only point the finger at mice!

Actually - I'm feeling a little guilty about how well the nematodes have worked. I saw three slugs this morning who'd been at some spinach seedlings but these are the first I've seen for a month. This time last year I could have enticed a hundred to a beer trap each night. The guilt? I have found a toad who has taken up residence in one of the compost heaps...and I'm sure he'd prefer the slugs to be as plentiful this year as last year. He is in the compost heap with the best compost in and I haven't the heart to move him on and each morning I lift up the hessian that covers it to see if he's still there. He always is! So the compost will have to wait.

I can't be feeling that bad about him though because the next installment of the slug nematodes arrived in the post last week and I watered them in a couple of days ago. You are supposed to do it in dull weather and keep the ground damp. The weather forecast on Saturday was for heavy rain in the afternoon after a bright start, so as the clouds rolled up at midday I was out there with my watering can musing smuggly that the rain would water them in. At two pm the clouds rolled away again and we had a brilliantly sunny afternoon. At regular intervals from then on I had to fill the watering can to keep the soil moist. I emptied the water butt! It hasn't refilled yet but the forecast is for heavy rain tonight so that should be OK.

I also put up bean supports at the weekend - see photo . People use hazel and willow but I always use Buddlea! The plus is that I get lots of straight sticks when I prune in the spring. The minus side is that they root very easily so you have to make sure none of them get too good a foothold or you get new buddlea plants. After a couple of years in the garden they have dried enough to break up and use as kindling for the wood stove.

The peas are in the bottom left of the photo - the beans will be along the spindly frame behind. The tree (a wonderful Acer called Crimson King) will shade the area rather more than the beans will appreciate but I should get some and......

we are working on bringing more of this part of the garden into cultivation by moving the shed up under the tree and dropping the greenhouse back 10 metres. The idea is that it is moved at the time the overwintering Pelargoniums and fuschias come outside and before the indoor tomatoes get placed in their grow bags. Next year the beans will be in full sun.

Watch this space!

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!