Spring update.

It’s difficult to remember that it’s actually still spring. The weather has been tropical and we haven’t had rain in weeks, with none on the forecast horizon either. The ground is dry with cracks appearing even in the more fertile areas.

In the summerhouse the temperatures have been silly but this has allowed me to quickly germinate and grow on some of the more unusual plants. Lemongrass is a first for me. I only tried it because Miss C saw it in a local hardware store at the beginning of the lockdown. I would have assumed it was to specialist for home growing and have never cooked with it before but it’s always good to try new things.

Asparagus peas grew fairly well in the tunnel last year but due to the triffid like qualities of my tomatoes I couldn’t get to them to harvest. Having saved the seeds at the end of the year I’m trying again.

Chinese Lanterns were also picked by Miss C on the hardware store visit. I’ve had three attempts at germinating them, including using the propagator, so this time looks hopeful.

Oca is a plant I grow every year. Small tubers, that always seem to grow, get left in random places all over the garden as well. Unfortunately we just don’t really eat it. It tastes quite nice and grows well but the tubers are tiny and very knobbly and I’m just to lazy to prepare them. This year I’m growing it for the leaves which I’ve read taste interesting in salads. We will see!

Chillies are staying in the summerhouse this year. Last year I grew a number of varieties and one mixed packet had two plants in that could only be described as killer. Brother-in-law had never been beaten by a chilli but to see him and his drunken friends on their knees crying over some tiny red and orange ones was funny but quite concerning. I freeze most of my peppers and dry the chillies. So far everyone we have tried to eat was clearly cross pollinated by the killer chillies. I’ve had to throw them away for fear of ruining any more dishes. This year all chillies are segregated and nothing has been grown without careful packet reading.

In the Polytunnel the cucumbers look healthy. I wanted to use up some free seeds from a magazine so am growing Telegraph. It has good reviews but needs the male flowers removed so that will be a challenge. I have left myself lots of space in front so that I can get to them a bit easier.

I’m hoping the whole tunnel will be better organised this year, I’ve changed the tomato layout for what I hope is easier picking. My coriander has gone straight to seed but I guess that’s not a problem when it’s seeds I’m growing it for.

Melons grow in the bottom of the plastic indoor greenhouse frame. They seemed to like the extra heat when I was growing the seedlings on so I’ve left them in there. I plan to take the plastic off next month, once temperatures are consistently higher during the night.

The sweet peppers are growing a bit better now. Having been unable to get any multi purpose compost I made my own. I used a mix with a high proportion of household waste compost. This is available for free at our local tip but it is a poor quality product and when watered it clumped together and was not free draining enough for some plants. I was able to buy multi purpose at the hardware store last week so I tipped out all the plants that looked to be struggling, teased off the compost and repotted. The chillies and peppers have romped away since so that was clearly the problem.

Squashes had no such problems with the waste compost. My spaghetti squash loved it and now seem just as happy in the top of the compost bin where they already have small squash forming.

Happy days!