Today was a good day. Went late to the plot as I'd been busy with other projects but was worth the long wait. When I did finally arrive and looked around, I discovered lots of new life. The first being the bean .This bean is the answer to a question I set myself when I sowed to trays of runner beans in late March. Both trays were Lady Di but one was bought seed and one was saved seed from last years crop. Today, less than a month later, a seed has popped up. Which tray though? It was, to my surprise, the saved seed! I would have been happy just to get some of the saved to sprout but to find them coming up earlier is a shock. Also showing its head today was the Asparagus, bought too early and planted out without much hope of survival. Survive it has(so far) and it's even trying to grow and flourish.

The carrots I sowed have a few green seed leaves showing already too. It's all go! The Apple is showing blossoms now, I just hope we don't have a late frost. If we do, please let it be forecast so we can get some covers on! It's getting exciting on the site now as lots of people have had earlier sowings come up and its becoming a hive of activity once again. Sure signs of the season to come.The first early potato greens are showing so i shall soon be earthing up. Would like to try using grass cuttings this year, I've read about it and it makes for a deeper bed as well as an easier way of earthing up. Old Bob Flowerdew is raving about seaweed drenches this week so I'd like to give it ago.I know one of the plots on site had a good covering of seaweed last autumn and I know we have a beach very conveniently located so if there is anything to be gained by it, I'm all for it.

The cane fruits are looking very healthy so I'm all ready for a plate full of summer pudding about October.

Sunday Sunday, so good to me..

Sundays are special. Its the one day when you don't have to rush about making sure you get to the shops, work or school. Its the day when ,hopefully, all the family will be together, the post doesn't arrive and the whole world turns a little slower. OK, in reality, shops are still open and people are working in them, but the world does rotate a little more calmly.
Meanwhile, its a good day to visit the site and get stuck in. I didn't dig much today, a couple of rows maybe, but I did harvest the last sprouting from my earlier sowings. The ones I made early last year, around March I think(must keep a diary) as opposed to the plants I bought online. The Broccoli was a surprise success as I'd never tried it before now. Not growing it anyway, I love it as a foodstuff and even though I may be the only one in our house to really enjoy it, I decided growing it would be a challenge.My only comment is, the challenge is in the waiting, being nearly a year between sowing and eating. I initially didn't plan on growing any brassica as the plot I took on was so small, anything had to be a fast turnover crop. When my luck turned and I was upgraded to a full plot(two halves) I decided to go for the greens!

Enough of then, more of now. Today I noticed the buds bursting open on the new apple tree I planted late last year.

A discounted James Grieve from Focus. Think I paid about a fiver at most for it. The one benefit of a store like Focus is the staff are minimum wage students or housewives who know very little about gardening and are given very little training in that area so they don't know when a plant is just dormant and sell things like Clematis as clearance items because they think they are dead. Same for deciduous plants. Bargain!

Unfortunately for the employer, they don't seem to know which are weeds and which aren't so happily continue to water and try to sell pots of herbs etc that have long since died and disappeared to be replaced by a decent sized, well fed dandelion!Ahh well, you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.The signs of life on the fruits is encouraging as they will go on to form the backbone of the plot in years to come. It's the long term plants like these that will give shape and form to the layout as the seasonal stuff comes and goes. Beneath the Tree I've made a concession to colour and planted out these wallflowers, grown as tradition dictates, on the veg plot. Its this time of year when you need all the colour you can get.

I later tidied up the seed bed I started a week ago and sowed two more crops for later . Four rows of Chanteny Red Cored carrots from Unwins and two rows of Tender and True Parsnip from Kings seeds (site shop 50p)

The Broccoli and Sprouting stems from the early plants will be composted once they have been crushed but I did take the time to strip off any leaves and odd greens to compost them separately. The best way I can think of to crush stems is to lay them on the driveway at the site and let them get run over several times by the plot holder's cars!