green shoots

Walking round the garden today I noticed the first real signs of the new season. The rhubarb is poking its head through the compost mulch and chives have fresh green shoots  up to three inches long. Even some chives in small pots that I split from a clump last year and was sure had succumbed to the frosts are sending up new growth.

In the greenhouse a tub of overwintered onions is well away, as are shallots I planted in pots last November. When the shoots get to about three inches I’ll transplant them to the plot, given the right weather conditions.

Chard is also putting on new growth and we should be getting a small crop soon.

Sowed another dozen broad beans in small pots in the greenhouse for transplanting outside when they are big enough. All the overwintered ones have been lost to the weather which is a bit annoying as they survived the really severe frost in December then bit the dust in January. I suppose they'd just taken too much of a beating to survive a second round.

The sun came out this afternoon and I felt that great surge of optimism that gardeners get at the start of the new year. Heaven knows what the season will bring but you can guarantee it won’t be the same as last year, or the one before. But who cares, that’s what makes growing your own such a fantastically satisfying challenge.