Strawberries soon!

This is my strawberry patch, which I started last year on my 'fifth' plot, ie a quarter plot adjacent to mine. All are now netted, with straw underneath, and with plenty of slug pellets! The ones in the foreground are young plants, taken from runners last year, so although they will have some fruit - you can see the flowers - it will not be much. However, the older plants in the background have lots of flowers and should, in a couple of weeks, give a lot of fruit. Later on this year, there will be more runners, so I will fill up the plot when they have rooted.


In other places, I have planted out both French and runner bean plants, and also some brassicas - purple sprouting broccoli and cabbages. Still to plant out are the most tender plants - sweetcorn, courgettes and butternut squash. We should be past the chance of frost now, but the soil is still quite cold. However, we have had a couple of nights of rain, and the weather should now be warming up.

getting on

This is my hot bed, with lettuce (ready in a couple of weeks) beetroot and carrots. I have now taken the glass roof off, as there is no frost forecast for the next few days - indeed, it will be very warm and dry, which makes a change!
Elsewhere on the plot, I have planted various seeds, and of course my seed potatoes, which have just started to show above the surface, but so far the parsnip seed does not appear to have done anything.

At home, in the greenhouse, I have planted runner beans and French beans. These have just started to sprout, and should be ready to plant out in June. Now I must plant courgettes, sweetcorn and butternut squash.