27 Apr - Snow & Hail

Wow, what a cold snap we've had for the past few days. It's been quite frosty in the mornings and today we had a heavy hail & snow shower that briefly made the allotment white. It's the very end of April, what happened to the warmer days of last week?

Unfortunately, my early potatoes have made an appearance too, not many, but enough to concern me. Luckily I had already spotted them before the cold snap and scraped more earth over the top of them. Hopefully this will protect the young shoots. Still, it's an ongoing job now to keep an eye on what is poking through the soil.

Now to a quick update with the rest of the stuff. The beans sowed in my last post are making an appearance in the greenhouse. Both the Cobra French beans and Firestorm Runner beans are beginning to poke their way through the top of the deep root trainers. (Pic - Firestorm Runner Beans).

Likewise the Sweet Corn, Incredible F1 are beginning to show too. Despite the protection of the greenhouse, I'll be happier when this cold spell passes and we get back to warmer temperatures. (Pic - Sweet Corn Incredible F1).

The Hunter F1 Butternut are beginning to show in the heated propagator. The ones that have germinated I'll pop on a windowsill in the house until this cold snap has passed and then they can go into the greenhouse. Any spaces in the propagator will be filled by the Turks Turban that I didn't have room for initially. (Pic - Butternut Squash, Hunter F1).

Everything else is doing well in the greenhouse; the cabbages, kale and Brussels sprouts are looking very strong; the tomatoes continue to grow up their canes and, the salad onions I sowed into cells are just appearing.

That's it for now, see you in May.