I do like a self-imposed deadline. I doubt I would get anything done without one, in truth. I chose this week as ‘Veg Week’ last autumn and thought I’d get a demonstration veg plot ready to plant up during the week. Well what do you know, I finished it today, right on cue.

The basic idea of the event is to offer practical advice and to show, rather than tell, would-be home veg growers how to go about it. But the thing has mushroomed a bit and I now have a supply of organic seeds, raised beds, soil conditioner, organic fertilisers and pest controls on offer. So, if you feel like chatting about veg growing and want to pick up some supplies at lower than garden centre prices, do drop in from Wed to Sun this week. I don’t do 3 for 2 offers, but who wants three boxes of bonemeal anyway!

Here’s the almost finished veg plot as of yesterday:

Yesterday’s frost was a reminder of how early in the season it still is, and a timely reminder too. It is quite criminal for B&Q and garden centres to wheel huge trolleys of tender begonias and fuchsias outside each day and entice poor souls to spend their cash on plants that will almost certainly die unless they go into a greenhouse.

This young Rheum palmatum shoot looked lovely in the frost and seems none the worse for its chilling. On the other side of the garden the cherry was humming with bumblebees making the most of the spring sunshine.


March 30, 2009