Gardening Diary April

We are making good progress in the vegetable garden. To be honest I am probably spending a lot of time gardening because of the lockdown. It is lovely to be outdoors in the fresh air, and as well as the gardening there are birds, insects and animals to see every day.

Having said that I am enjoying the animals, I may also be turning into a bit of a Mr McGregor. I am being very careful to shut the gate so that the rabbits can't  get in, but I am also worried about the rooks. A large amount of noisy rooks are nesting near the plot, and I do wonder if they will be interested in the plants. So we are still thinking of a scarecrow, or other ways to keep them off the plants, but haven't done anything about this yet. We do have some nice bits of bent wire fencing, that the previous owners left, which are very handy to place over the young plants. It also keeps our dog off. She seems to be getting the hang of gardening.

So for a few weeks we have been planting, with not much sign of anything coming up. But in the last week things are starting to get going, and it is exciting to head up to the plot to see what new shoots there are. Probably experienced gardeners don't get the thrill that I am from this. I tried taking some photos of plants shooting, but to be honest they did not look that exciting, so for this month you will have to make do with reading.

So far the early potatoes are doing well, and there is also signs of some peas, broad beans, jerusalem artichokes, and carrots I think (although they are very small). 

I have also planted today straight into the plot our runner beans (perhaps a bit early), sunflowers, radishes, and rocket.  Rather pleased with out bean wigwams.

In the polytunnel I have some tomatoes that have just come up in a propagator, as well as some sweetpeas, squash and courgette of which there is no sign yet. The vine (which had looked rather hopeless) has sprung into life.

I feel very sorry for anyone who runs a garden centre, as there must be so many plants going to waste at the moment. I have found it fairly easy to buy seeds online. This is perhaps making us attempt to grow from seed, whereas we might have bought some young plants if we could have. 

Other things we have done is put a net over the gooseberry bushes, and quite a lot of weeding in the herb area. I am now feeling quite pleased about that digging we did in January, as I think it has made the work now a bit easier. 

So rather than a photo of the vegetable plot, here is the area that I walk up to get to it. And at the top of the page is a very early view of the sun coming up. I am planning to try this again, but it is oh so hard to get up before the sun.

Just a reminder that there is still plenty of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for April. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.