Peas and beans, and warm weather seeds

Seeds sown, seedlings pricked out, transplants into the ground.  I'll be repeating this cycle for the rest of the growing season.  Unlike in recent years, I'm not sowing everything individually in pots--though I am doing many seeds this way--the beans and peas have been pre-sprouted and sown in situ, a big savings on potting compost.  Also a big savings in extra table space on my patio, and on pots and trays which can be used for different, less numerous plants.

Snap peas and broad beans are small but growing well at the allotment.  I put down a short row of dwarf French beans at home too, not shooting up yet.  I tried to pre-sprout some climbing French beans at the same time which did not sprout;  I guess the seed was too old.  I'm trying again with some two year old seed, which also might prove to be too old;  both batches were seed I'd saved myself, but ended up not growing last year as I ran out of space--instead I grew some runner beans which ended up rather disappointing.

And of those runner beans, I tried to regrow some roots/tubers that overwintered, but they don't look like they're going anywhere either.  I'm not planning on sowing new seed in any case;  the harvest was too small to justify wasting precious space on them.  I'd much rather have French beans which have been far more prolific for me over the years.  While I prefer the climbing beans to the dwarf, I could only buy the dwarf beans in the seed sale last year;  therefore I'm hoping my saved seed will pull through (and I'll save some more if it does).

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Although I was hoping to keep my tomatoes outdoors now that the days are warmer, we're forecast a week or two of near-frost temps overnight.  I can't risk it, even though my sheltered patio microclimate ought to be safe enough.  These have spent some nights outdoors this past week, but I'll have to shuttle them in and out again until it's more like 6C or warmer overnight.  As a precaution, the son and I also mulched over our newly sprouting potatoes at the allotment too:  a couple inches of stable bedding (mostly straw).  The allotment is much more exposed and will probably frost.

Regardless, I've started my next wave of summer crop seeds:  salad cuc, pickling cuc, and zuc.  These have to start indoors, hence the need to move tomatoes outdoors, but until they sprout they can at least stay stacked on each other in one place.  I need to remember to start a second batch of both cucs in mid-May too, as my pickling cucs in particular seemed to run out of steam before the end of summer.  Need more pickles!  

The last summer crop seed yet to sow are my squashes.  I try to start them about six weeks before planting out, generally at the beginning of May.  Last year I could have planted them out earlier had I sown them earlier (it was a very warm, dry year) but in general they get planted in early June.  As I don't have the room for them just now, I'll stick to my usual timing.

Picking up the pace

Quite a lot of gardening has happened over the past week, mainly in the Perennials section at home, but a bit of action at the allotment too;  it's the end of our spring break off work/school.  The son and I finished working on the bamboo at last and also drastically cut back the overgrown laurels at the very back of the property.  The laurels were planted by a previous owner, presumably as a hedge;  now they are part of my regular coppice rotation and I cut them back every five years or so for firewood.  

On a sunny, dry day I managed to dig out some of the excellent compost from the bottom of the chicken yard and spread it on part of my veg beds, both around my strawberry plants and onto a weedy bed destined for onion seedlings.  I have a tray of onions, rather small, which I will transplant in a few days after the compost has settled/been rained on.

In addition, I finally sowed a packet of parsnip seed in another bed I'd cleared earlier (with the help of my free ranging poultry).  There's a space below this bed which is earmarked for carrot seed:  very soon!  I also transplanted some lettuce seedlings in between the parsnip rows, and put a short row of dwarf beans at the back (I'd soaked them first);  then I covered the whole bed with insect mesh, mainly as a pigeon deterrent.  

Speaking of pigeons, it looks like they haven't stripped all my plum flower buds off this year--maybe we'll get some fruit at last?  We were wondering if the old pair of wood pigeons moved on/died--we have still seen a pair of them in the garden, just not eating buds off trees:  this might be a new pair who don't know the delicious taste of flowers yet.  Perhaps the Kordia cherry will have fruit too!  I'm keeping an eye on things, but there's not much I can do to prevent them if they decide to attack.

I'm starting seeds and pricking out seedlings regularly;  most of my seeds are started outdoors, broadcast into small pots on my patio table and then pricked out into trays--only roots like parsnips/carrots/beets get sown directly into their beds.  My tomato seedlings are spending nights indoors but having day trips to the patio for sunbathing--only a couple days have been too cold/windy for them;  hopefully in a week or two they'll be acclimatized enough to move out and I can start my next batch of indoor seeds:  cucumber, zuc, squash.  I don't have enough room on my sunny kitchen windowsill for everything at once.

At the allotment my snap peas and beets are just emerging under their sheet of insect mesh.  I prepared another row nearby and put down my kohlrabi seedlings, also under some mesh.  I took the mesh off the broad bean bed at last (mesh goes on most of my newly planted/sown beds to keep birds, mice and cats off) and put it over the kohlrabi instead.  As a brassica, it's in most need of the mesh to keep the cabbage white butterflies off when they start to lay eggs next month.

I'm still harvesting Musselbrugh leeks, but getting very near the end now.  Maybe a dozen left?  I'm also picking purple sprouting broccoli once a week, hopefully till May at least.  And rhubarb once a week too, though it's prolific enough for a much more generous harvest;  maybe I should make a batch of wine this year, something I haven't done for a while.  I rarely drink alcohol but it makes a unique gift.

Duck discord, and Perennials renovation

The son has been practicing his photography, April 2026

Our three new Snowflake ducks have been free ranging with Girl Duck and Boy Duck;  they are still very nervous and Boy Duck has been terrorizing them regularly.  Drakes are real jerks!  The Snowflakes haven't gone around the garden much as Boy Duck keeps chasing them into a corner and not letting them out (while eating their food and splashing their water).  The daughter keeps asking if she can whack him (the duck whacking stick is a light, whippy bamboo cane--it gets his attention but doesn't really hurt him) but I've told her no:  they have to sort it out themselves.  Hopefully it doesn't last for much longer, though I'm thinking of locking Boy and Girl in their yard for a few days again, to let the Snowflakes have a break (although Girl Duck hasn't been aggressive to them, it would be unfair to separate them as they are a bonded pair).

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In other garden news, the son and I have been gradually reducing our bamboo stand out in the back corner of the Perennials section.  We're using a shovel, a hand saw and a lot of brute force.  It's a clumping bamboo but has outgrown its space;  I'm actually going to get the whole plant out, discard most of it, and replant one piece into a large plastic planter.  This can be sunk back into the ground where we dug it up, and hopefully will keep it contained;  the plant has been there maybe 15 years, and I don't think I'll be able do this job again in another 15 years.

For several years the Perennials section was also the large duck yard, and as such it has been a bit neglected.  I've just cut down a large feral rose back there, right on the fence line.  The growth was spectacular;  it was at least 3 m tall, maybe more.  Normally I keep all my green waste on site for composting, or for kindling/firewood, but these trimmings are outrageously thorny:  dangerously so!  Instead I'm putting them in the garden waste bin to be collected next week (the bamboo roots will go in too).  

I have a vision for that back corner of the Perennials section.  I imagine it a little hideaway:  shady, screened in on all sides by greenery, with a little patio just big enough for one or two chairs.  A secret place, good for kids and grown ups too.  The greenery is there--it just needs a little taming.  

Experiments with wood chips

It's been windy and a bit too cold this past week;  despite some rain, the wind has really dried the soil a lot.  Our walk to the daughter's school is far less muddy through the country park than it has been all winter.  

I'm continuing to sheet mulch the allotment, piece by piece.  As I mentioned previously, some of the mulch is wood chips, only available on site since last summer.  As an experiment, I heavily mulched my Musselbrugh leeks in the autumn and I notice their bed is the least weedy.  There is probably about six inches of wood chips on this bed, with the leeks growing through out of the soil underneath.  Their stalks were lovely, long and white (normally I don't earth them up or do anything special to blanch them) and surprisingly no sign of allium leaf miner.  This pest has always attacked my leeks and garlic, but maybe the deep mulch prevented them finding the leeks this year?  The garlic bed is right next to the leek bed and it only got a light mulch of straw, but I won't know if the garlic bulbs are affected till I harvest them in June.

I also noticed some nettles starting to grow at the very edge of the leek bed next to the path, where the wood chips were only put down shallowly.  As I was pulling them out, the few nettles in the deep mulch only took a tiny tug to extract a long root, whereas the shallow mulch nettles had a very firm grasp and didn't budge.  I'll definitely keep this in mind as I continue my wood chip mulch experiments.

We're just starting our two week spring break from school and work--even the husband has the time off, but unluckily he also can't walk due to an ankle fracture.  So I won't be getting any work out of him--the son will have to step up a bit.  There's plenty to do both at home in the garden and at the allotment and it needs to be done now, before spring is over.

In earnest at the allotment

My ornamental garden with orange flowering berberis to the center, Kordia cherry tree to the right, and a Birthday chicken, March 2026

Now past spring equinox, things are starting to move a bit quicker, myself included.  Every day for the past week--excluding Saturday as we all attended the son's orchestra concert instead--I've been at the allotment getting work done.  In fact, on the school days, I've been twice a day:  both before dropping off the daughter from school and after finishing work but before picking her up.  

In the first instance I sowed a prepared bed with beet seeds, and covered it with insect mesh to keep birds/cats digging it up (I generally cover all my beds at the allotment after sowing/planting, at least until the plants are established).  

Then the daughter and I spent several days on the snap pea bed:  it had been newly sheet mulched with wood chips so we moved aside the mulch and laid down rows of compost, dug from the bottom of our composters.  Then we sowed the pre-sprouted peas over the course of two days and lightly sprinkled mulch back on top.  Finally, another sheet of mesh for protection.

 Another job which the whole family participated in:  planting out potatoes.  The daughter and I put down two short rows of seed potatoes I'd saved over winter (I grew them last year but these few were too green to eat).  A few days later I bought 1 kg of Charlotte seed potatoes to fill the rest of the bed, and the son and husband got these ones down (the ones I'd saved were also Charlottes).  Like last year, I'm growing them no-dig:  we raked aside the existing straw mulch to expose bare soil, placed the sprouting potatoes directly on it, and then covered them thickly with well-composted horse bedding (straw/manure).  I will give them one more layer of the less composted bedding--mostly straw--to prevent weeds sprouting on top.

And in addition to putting things down, I'm also taking things up:  regular picking of leeks and rhubarb (at the weekend I made a compote with some frozen strawberries we'd picked at a farm last summer) and I've started on the purple sprouting broccoli.  I was also very excited to see the new asparagus poking up, though I won't pick any this spring.  At home I'm also picking a little more chard, and some new season mizuna and lambs lettuce.

A few jobs here and there

Our three new ducks, now designated the Snowflake Ducks (or Snowflakes), are still enclosed in their temporary yard and not hiding in their little coop quite so much.  They don't like us coming too close but will hopefully get used to us being out in the garden as time goes on.  They've been with us just over a week and I'm not ready to let them mingle with the old ducks.  Maybe after another week.  Moving from a barn/farm to a garden/free range is enough of a big scary change--I want them settled in before they face Boy Duck and his territorial aggression.

We've had two birthdays in the past week so not a lot of garden/allotment action has happened.  The son and I managed to get to the allotment on Sunday for sheet mulch;  in addition, I picked some leeks and rhubarb and prepared a bed for beet seeds (hopefully to sow within the next day or two).  What's more, I even caught enough of a sunny spell to wander around the garden with a pair of secateurs and prune my remaining roses, currants and grape vine.  

I've pricked out several trays of early seedlings now (but still more to go), and have started some snap peas in a jar;  I like to soak/pre-sprout my peas and beans before sowing.  And at last a few broad beans are sprouting up at the allotment, after sowing more than a month ago.   I'll need to start clearing weeds and spent plants in my kitchen garden so I can begin sowing there:  I'll be focusing mainly on root crops at home this year.  I like to rotate what I grow there, and last year was mainly brassicas and leeks.

A friend gave me a couple of small potted fruit trees (belonging to her relative who died recently):  a pear and a Bramley apple.  I've wanted a Bramley or other cooking apple for a while now, ever since the big feral tree in the next village over was bulldozed:  we used to pick a couple of sacks every autumn, and they lasted several months on trays in our living room.  I already have a lot of fruit trees, and two other apple trees besides!  Nevertheless we were able to tuck the Bramley in the back corner of our garden.  I also already have a Kumoi pear so the little pear tree might go to the allotment later on;  it's now in a very large container and I'll have to decide if I want to leave it or plant it out.

New ducks

New ducks, March 2026

After several years of trying for some more ducks, we have finally adopted another three females.  We like having ducks, which are excellent at slug hunting, and also lay very nice eggs.  The eggs are just a nice bonus in my view;  pest control is the main draw for me.  We haven't quite settled on a cohort name (we no longer name individually, but as a group) though the daughter has suggested the White Ducks.  Not a bad name!  But we have had a group of White Ducks in the past, so we might think about it a little longer.

The son and I fenced off the small section of garden next to the chicken yard, also enclosing our old chicken tractor in with them;  our two old ducks shun any sort of shelter--they were even sleeping out in the snow this winter--but the new ones have been raised in a barn and aren't used to the open.  We'll keep them enclosed for a week or two while the other ducks free range, to let them get used to each other.  Last time we introduced new ducks, Boy Duck took all summer to finally accept them.  I hope they can get along sooner this time, not least because there are more new ducks than old.  I won't lock them in a yard together until I'm sure everyone is friends.

Boy Duck and Girl Duck are around 8 years old now;  while I don't know how long ducks normally live, I feel like 8 is pretty old.  None of our other ducks lived that long.  These three new ducks are around 12 weeks old, so I hope we get at least 8 years with them too.  Or at least I hope they outlive Boy Duck, as the last duck standing needs to be a girl:  the only reason the ducks live separately to the chickens is because Boy Duck is such a jerk to them--otherwise all our birds could live in one mixed flock.  And of course one duck can't live on its own;  they need a flock or they get too stressed.