With the weather warming up and the days getting longer it was time to get the main crops on the way.  Despite the best efforts of the Mantis, the soil was still looking pretty lumpy, so I gave the seeds a head start by sowing them in thin rows of compost laid directly on top.  Parsnips, carrots and leeks joined the onions in the roots bed, which were already sprouting nicely.  Another bed received a long row of mange tout and another of peas, which I covered with plastic netting as protection against the dreaded wood pigeons.  Finally a last bed received a single row of dwarf french beans which promised to turn out a rather attractive shade of purple (which turn green when cooked).

Thinking ahead I was going to have to start germinating my tender crops.  I wanted a full spread of sweetcorn, courgettes, pumpkins and squashes, but would have to find a home for them until late May when all risk of frosts were over.  Our garden shed seemed the best choice as it has a long shallow window running along one side, and a bench to support the three plastic cultivators I'd collected over the previous years.  There wasn't much space left over when I'd finished, and the poor light conditions in the shed would mean that most of the seedlings would be spending a holiday on our window sills at some point.

John my neighbour kindly gave me a couple of young blackcurrant bushes to get me started.  I'd already decided that the lower half of the plot would be dedicated to vegetables, and the upper (undeveloped) half to fruit.  Fortunately blackcurrants are pretty hardy, so I heeled them up in one of the vegetable beds until their future home was ready. Still more beds to dig, but I was getting faster all the time.  Mainly because I'd stopped bothering with double digging, but I guess my technique was improving as well!  The top of the plot was particularly waterlogged under the plastic sheeting, so to give it a chance to dry out, I took a deep breath and finally removed all of the covers!  My plot was fully exposed to the elements at last.