what next? a plague of locusts perhaps!

This long cold spring has been a bit of a trial for all of us growers but we've had some decent sunshine this week, even if it is still chilly. Plenty to be getting on with so I sowed some beetroot this afternoon. Before I could get them covered with soil the sky darkened, the lightning flashed and then a tremendous hail storm struck. End result: beetroot seeds buried under a layer of ice!

seeds under this lot!

Newly emerged seedlings of beetroot, parsnips and turnip were flattened and have leaves stripped from them. I know there's plenty of time for more sowings but it is a bit disheartening and you end up wondering what on earth is the weather going to throw at us next.

I'd fleeced over my potatoes in readiness for the expected frost this weekend and the fleece was weighed down with ice.

Managed to get rid of most of it but some very cold water must have dripped through on to the young plants.

We had a couple more hail showers so I decided that greenhouse work was the preferred option and transplanted about 50 leeks into deeper containers.  I have another tray of seeedlings to do then that should be it for leeks this year.

I can get any amount of these plastic produce trays from the shop in the next village and they are ideal for leeks, being about four inches deep. You can even grow a decent crop of spring onions in them.

For lunch we had tomato and pepper soup made from frozen fruit from last year's crop. Where would we be without our freezers?