just like a bus ....

you wait for months for an update and then two arrive together !

I finally made it to the lottie for the afternoon .. why on earth haven't I been sooner !! The sun came out and smiled on me as I checked out what has been happening for the last 5 months. Actually it is not too bad at all, considering how little time I've spent there. The greenhouses have suffered some wind damage, but not too much considering the gales that we've experienced lately. Will have to get OH to do some maintenance for me.



I was very pleased to see my broad beans looking nice and healthy. They are about 5 inches in height and look to have overwintered very well. Curiously the ones in the green manure bed are not doing quite as well as the others - I had thought it would be the other way round.





My garlic looks fabulous too - the best I've grown yet. I hope that we don't get a repeat of last season. I've got two varieties and they look very different at this stage.





The beds are amazingly clear of weeds, I think the hard work and time I spent sifting the soil when I first got the lottie has really paid off.

It looks as though I'll be enjoying some rhubarb crumble soon



This is my rocket in the glass greenhouse, it looks to be growing with a vengence now:



the salad leaves that I left last year are still flowering, they look great, but I bet the mizuna will blow my head off



The cauliflowers that were planted late last year look really good. I need to think about moving them outside, but I've heard they don't like being disturbed. I gave them a good water (the first for 2 months !!!!) I'm amazed they've not pegged it.

Here are my electric onions which have survived the winter. They look OK for now, I guess we'll see what happens over the next couple of months. Last years onions were dismal.



The raspberry canes have overwintered very well - OH will be delighted when he sees this photo, fresh raspberries are one of his favourite things from the lottie.



I tidied up the wild flower bed, getting rid of the weeds (dandelions, docks and creeping buttercups) and noticed that some of the flowers are budding up already:

forget-me-not


Cowslip:


Foxgloves:


Dafodil:


I'd been weeding for about 10 minutes when I noticed a really annoying noise, a kind of weird low, croaking ... and eventually the penny dropped:







There were two froggies in the pond, but one of them was very shy ! The pond has lots of frogspawn in it



Look at my lovely new potatoes


I'm almost too shamed to mention that they are last seasons, nah, who am I kidding, I have no shame. They are last seasons :) Maybe tomorrow I'll dig up the remaining three quarters of the bed ... now I do feel a little shamed. Bet they taste nice tho'. We are having them for tea with leeks in white sauce and vegi haggis