So at last the sunshine is well and truly here. And everything is starting to look abundant and as imagined back in the cold days of hope and muddy hard work!

I’m particularly pleased with the stripey tigerella tomato in the cold frame with its lid off. Already showing some little fruits, with green tiger stripes just starting to show.

And the brassica cage is filled to capacity, the summer purple sprouting starting to sprout already (the white variety still a bit behind, which is good and avoids a glut). I’m very pleased with the little hooks I put on the inside of the raised beds to keep the butterfly netting tautly stretched over it. It has worked perfectly and the reward of blemishless enormous veined leaves is a joy after the caterpillar mayhem of last year…

And how lovely finally to be taking home a trugful (is there such a word?) of produce for supper. With all the hard work over the winter and spring, I had almost lost sight of the reason for doing it in the first place.

So the first allotment supper included the first weeny little courgettes (including 2 little oval striped ‘piccolo’ courgettes, complete with attached flowers) and a few first purple managetout Shiraz.

The sweet peas have been marvellous – they’ve suddenly taken off and are flowering like billyo on their new arch. Purple, white, pale mauve & highly scented.