20 May

My fleece barrier worked fairly well during the recent cold snap, the butternuts and pumpkins all look OK but one of the courgettes may not survive and another one got hit a bit. On one corner, the wind had loosened the barrier and it had dropped down letting in the cold wind. It has now been pegged which seems to be working better. The beans however are not looking good and may not recover - I should have protected these too. I've sown some 2 more courgettes and a load of replacement runner and cobra beans in pots and they are in the heated propogator in the conservatory.

The second early potatoes have nearly all shown their heads now so they have all been earthed up. Only a few main crops are showing.

I spent a few hours hoeing and weeding - the parsnips look like they have all germinated, about 1" high. After I planted them I read in a couple of gardening books that you should use fresh seed every year - I didn't and they seem to be fine!

I also weeded round the over wintered onions, they are starting to swell nicely. I managed to hoe off about a 1/4 row of fennel before I spotted them - whoops! Sowed a few more direct into the row to replace the casualties. I will have to make some of my labels more obvious.

The spicy salad leaves are coming through now as is the beetroot and the carrots (which also desparately need weeding).

We've got some warmer weather to come so they say this week. It was only 7°C when I got there Sunday morning and reached a high of 12°C by the time I left at 11:15 - wow ;-). I will have do sort out the rest of the 2 allotments before we go on holiday 2 weeks today. Only 4 days at work this week so should be able to spend a bit of time on the plot.

I have the grand total of 5 potatoes left so have very nearly met my target of 12 months supply without buying one. Looking forward to digging up the first of the earlies when we get back from holiday in June.

At home the tomatoes in the greenhouse are doing OK but are not as far on as they were last year due to the cold, haven't had to water them every day. The cucumbers are growing well, quite a few flowers and some fruits setting. The peppers look OK but they too aren't as big but a few are starting to flower so should get a resonable crop.