There she grows

The broad beans have started to emerge. They look a bit puny until you compare them with the seed leaves of many other plants, then you realise they are really strong. We'll plant some more beans in about a month to stagger the arrival of the crop, otherwise we will be under a foot of beans all at once.

The next set of seeds went in today. We planted sweet peas in pots and half of our leeks in a tray, to start indoors. It is a touch early, hence holding back some of the leeks, but as spring arrives sooner each year we could be fine. (We can't stop global warming now, so let's make the most of it). Leeks grow slowly and can stand in the ground quite well, so staggering the planting to spread the crop has no real effect.

In the green house I've started to build the racks to mount the shelves on. We should have a fair bit of room. The sun was out today and the air very still, so it was very warm for early February. The greenhouse was positively toasty. I'm slightly worried that things will fry in there.

Jean turned the soil on the empty beds to help get them ready for planting, even though that's some way off yet. There were still quite a lot of weed roots that came out, especially bind weed and couch grass. We planted garlic cloves last year, a bit randomly and we're regretting it now. Many of the beds have garlic shooting up in them and it will get in the way, so I tried moving some to see if they survive. I don't want to lose the garlic - it is so sweet compared to shop-bought stuff.

The asparagus bed has been deep dug with a trailer-load of horse manure dug into it. This was nearly the last chance to get it weed-free and it seems pretty good now. I'm looking forward to the plants arriving so we can get them on their way.

Gary was there working hard. He stopped to say he had been to Wilkinson's where he had bought some asparagus plants for half what I paid and some plastic tunnels for £5. It is surprising what they sell and it is often very cheap.

The growing season is starting.