Lets get started

   I got the egg boxes out and put them to good use. I use them to chit my potatoes in as they are the perfect holder for the seed potatoes. This year I'm just growing salad varieties due to the blight that keeps striking at the plot. I'm growing three types this year: 'Belle de Fontenay', 'Kestrel', and 'Arran Pilot'. Chitting potatoes always feels like the start of the new growing season.

   I also decided to plant my shallots into modules. I'm growing 'Longor' variety this year. The bed isn't quite ready for them to go out and be planted directly ( it still needs to be weeded and dug over!) so this way i hope they will get off to a good start.

First harvest

   I finally dug up my Jerusalem Artichokes. I had planted the majority at the plot but also planted  a few tubers into a pot. Well from the pot I got a bumper crop of...... one artichoke! It just looked like the rest of the tubers hadn't developed. So off to the plot I ventured to dig up the rest of the tubers with my fingers crossed they would be more bountiful. It felt good to be digging again and to be harvesting. Luckily the tubers in the ground had done better than the ones in the pot. I had never had Jerusalem Artichokes before so i copied a recipe I saw Alys Fowler do on her series and I made an artichoke gratin. It was very nice and I will certainly be growing them again this year. I just need to find a few more recipes for them.