I am resisting....

     The weather has gone mild. I am finding it hard to resist sowing yet I know from the last two years experience that it would be better to leave any sowing until the start of February at the earliest. Arrrrgh! Frustration! There has been more rain so the ground is very very wet and unworkable. That  has been a rare experience. I have seen water running out of a mole tunnel into a small bed. Never seen that before. Just shows how soaked the ground is.
      In the poly tunnel the conditions have still been good for mould and I have lost another cabbage. Again I have resisted sowing anything, however, broad beans are looking good and there is still some lettuce.  In the outside garden the Chou Milan continue to grow and the broad beans look strong and healthy. I think I will  get another picking of Brussels sprouts. These were plants bought from the local market and planted very late for sprouts. They have done well considering and they are probably not done yet. The over winter sown peas (both sowings) are still with me much to my continued amazement. The celery has finally come to an end. The celeriac that I have left in the ground (6) are still ok. There are some late sown carrots that when pulled are very pale and of course small. According to what I have read this can be caused by too damp conditions. I had to laugh.  Over wintered spring onions are still there so it looks very promising that I will get White Lisbon spring onions in the spring! Yeah! The buds on the apple trees and sour cherries are swelling. I guess it is not really that long before the cherry could be in flower.  Seed potatoes have been bought and are chitin on dinning room floor. Usual Rosebelle and Desiree with a new one, a first early, Belle de Fontenay. A very old french variety (1880's). I will also be looking out for an unusual one. In mind is a purple potato, that is, a potato that is still purple when cooked! I did not find one in my first outing but I have another garden centre to go to and I might strike lucky there. All in all though it is too wet to get anything much done! Just for fun I have sown some cress in a polystyrene box and it is now just about ready to eat.

First cress of 2013

    At last I have had one of the large fir trees outside the front of the house cut down. It had a lean on it and it kept a lot of light out of the front house garden let alone from my daughters kitchen. I now have a large pile of branches etc. to clear away and burn. That is going to take a while.