April Update

April is almost over already. Much progress in the garden and a regular and unwelcome visitor to be at the very least deterred.


Further progress in the fruit patch has seen blackcurrants planted, four bushes, and a Victoria plum tree. Blackcurrants are Liz' favourite, the plum tree is mine. I've a sneaky suspicion the currants will fruit somewhat sooner than the plum tree which is a bare root stock. Its beginning to leaf up but its got a very long way to go before you would imagine any sort of fruit. The blackcurrants, on the other hand, are more established plants and will certainly crop next year, even if we get nothing off them this.


The cloches are still protecting the lettuces and pak choi which are loving the warmer weather of growing well. Unfortunately the basil plant succumbed to the overnight frost last week and will need replacing. might be safer to plant something in the greenhouse next time.


There's been great progress outside now. I've planted rows of:

• Parsnip
• Swede
• Celeriac
• Leeks
• Mangetout
• Peas
• Cauliflower
• Carrots
• Beetroot
• Second sowing of broad beans

In the greenhouse I've got 3 types of bean (runner, borlotti and climbing french beans) all up and looking good. I'll have to take more care of them this year. last year, just the night before I planning on planting out my french beans, the snails had the lot, stripped all the leaves off the whole tray of plants. I was not at all happy. Had to put the seed straight in the ground and in fairness it did just as well anyway. I failed miserably with my first sowing of sweetcorn. Put a dozen seeds in the propagator and to be honest I'm, wondering if I remembered to put the seeds in the pots .... not a single one came up. So i tried again and they're sprouting up just fine now. What a difference it makes buying new seed instead of using the remains of last years!

The cabbage plants I brought on from seed in the greenhouse went out last weekend, under cloches, both to keep them warm but also to protect them from the voracious pigeons that seem to frequent our neighbourhood. Half a dozen Greyhound and half a dozen Drumhead. Also planted out some early purple sprouting plants under cloches. All has to have little bits of netting to the end of the run of cloches to keep the birds off.

Early last week i noticed the new potatoes were poking through so they've now been buried again for another week of so. The onions up that end are growing well, as is the garlic. We've nearly finished last years leeks but have our first spring cabbages to cut now. I fear there's going to be a gap of a week or two with very little to pick at all.

The peas I planted for salad cutting are almost ready now. Its quite a novelty. We've never tried pea shoot salad but I'd hazard a guess they'll be tasty. they certainly look young and succulent.

So now the bad news. Someones cat has developed a very unsociable habit of visiting our garden and taking a dump in the soft soil. That in itself is bad enough. I have sprayed copious quantities of pepper dust which acts as a bit of a deterrent but not for very long and it needs re-doing every couple of days. The cardinal sin was last Saturday when it decided that our newly emerging row of peas would make a good cat toilet. Well that's it. War has been declared on all moggies in the area. Anyone who fails to keep their cat under control can expect trouble. I have an infra-red water cannon, courtesy of my mate Saxondale, which I hope will drench the little sods and make them realise they are not welcome in our garden.