Mid-May quick update

Not a great deal to report at the moment due to a number of factors limiting my time at the plot in recent days. The weather curtailed the bulk of the weekend's potential activity, although it has to be said the rain has been most welcome and I, for one, am not complaining!

The other main reason for lack of activity is that all my hardy veggies are now in the ground but I feel it's still a few weeks too early for the tender crops to be going outside, so there's not an awful lot to do. Most of my squashes, cucumbers, beans and sweetcorn are progressing nicely but they're still a fortnight or so away from being planted out.

I did visit the plot this afternoon, dodging steady drizzle and heavy showers, to make a start at planting the ploytunnel and the celeriac. It was quite pleasant in the polytunnel listening to the rain beat down on the plastic cover, whilst inside all was snug and relatively warm. The melons and chillies are nowhere near ready yet but a few of my early tomatoes have progressed well and are now in and ready to reach for the sky. The strongest plants are from the Red Cherry seeds I received free from Gardeners' World magazine, follwed by the beefsteak 'Faworyt'. I planted 8 plants of mixed varieties in total, with space for a further 6.

Outside, I have created a double staggered row to accommodate the 20 or so celeriac seedlings and also found space for my globe artichoke. This should hopefully establish well this year, come through the winter relatively unscathed, and start to produce for us next year. Having never cooked and eaten an artichoke it will hopefully be worth the wait...

The final, possibly controversial, piece of news is that I'm thinking of digging out the asparagus and using the space for squashes. I love the idea of fresh asparagus and when we do pick some it is really tasty. The problem is that from 10 crowns we get enough for about two or three small portions are year and the production is staggered so that some spears have gone over by the time others are ready. Given that the land is taken up 12 months of the year for a crop of no real note, the space is being somewhat wasted. I might consider lifting and relocating some of the crowns, but I think the days of a dedicated asparagus bed might be numbered.