hermit@jimx.org

After a wild and woolly winter,  Spring has been with us now for nearly a month, notwithstanding the odd gale and downpour.

Beautiful misty mornings bring the newly-arrived birds out, and I’ve been busy in the vegetable patch, and also in the newly-cleared half-acre, which is already pushing up its second row of potatoes.

The vegetable patch is in its second year,  and already the first rows of garlic and sweetcorn are leaping joyfully towards the sun. The plan is to stagger rows to give a rolling harvest – a pretty obvious strategy, and one I wish I’d figured last year – no more famine and glut, I hope!

The garlic is for cooking, but mostly for making garlic water to spray the almond trees with to slow down the dreaded leaf-curling plum aphid, which attacks the almond leaves.

The first row of potatoes is doing well breaking new ground; I’ll leave them another week or so, then cover the leaves to promote vine growth

The mint, parsley and lemon balm have survived the winter frosts, and are pushing out new leaves; I’ve transplanted them from their position in the seed bed, where they were taking over, into a new herb bed:

And the wonderful scent of rosemary, which grows wild everywhere it can force its way through the gorse, hangs over everything, and is busy with the drone of bees:

And, of course, the first sign of almonds, pushing their way through the blossom:

Hasta luego!