Mice?

We took a walk up to the site this morning.  It was a misty morning but not quite as cold. All of the snow from the last few days had melted, revealing the weeds slowly taking hold.  These will all be removed when we dig the soil over but that will have to wait until the ground is drier, which will not be this week. 

Something else that appeared when the snow melted was a series of little holes outside of the fence surrounding the plot.  I think they are from mice.  The fence is not buried very deeply so I expect they have tunnelled under it into the plot. We plan to plant peas and beans which mice will happily eat as seeds before they sprout, but our tactic of growing seeds into small plants before planting them out should help.

At home the broad beans are opening out; we will take them to the greenhouse soon.  The leeks too are sprouting nicely.  They will be ready for potting on in a week or two. 

The parsnips are interesting.  The general view is that parsnips are hard to germinate.  This year almost all of the first batch of parsnip seeds we chitted have sprouted.  They have been planted in compost in cardboard tubes and the first leaves are emerging from the compost.  If all of these grow away we won't need to sow any more.