Excitement is growing

Spring comes just in time. As much as I love root vegetables, cabbage and winter squash, after a few months, I start craving something fresh, something green. Delicate vegetables that don’t even need to be cooked, just plucked from the ground and enjoyed. They are never as sweet and delicious as when they first emerge from the newly warmed earth. The first of the radishes will still have soil clinging to it by the time it finds my mouth, and the snap of green stems when harvesting asparagus echoes spring.

April has come in with a stunning mix of hot days and cold nights. Inside the tunnel, where the seedlings are shielded from the nighttime chill, growth has exploded. Overwintered greens like spinach and mustard leaves are flying out before they bolt by mid-April. Spinach needs picking every three days, and the kitchen is keeping pace. Chard has overwintered beautifully too—a reliable, vibrant harvest.

I’m making the most of this early warmth by squeezing in new plantings of fennel, spring onions, turnips, and radishes alongside the mature spinach and mustard that are on their last stretch. It’s a game of garden Tetris, ensuring that space is ready for the king of summer crops: tomatoes. Every planting decision is a strategic puzzle, but I love the challenge of fitting everything in just right.

One of the true highlights this season is the mighty purple sprouting broccoli, which has never come easy for us at Bishopstrow. The walled garden creates a beautifully sheltered microclimate in summer, but during winter, one particular end turns into an icy pocket. Unfortunately, that’s where the broccoli ended up. Of the three varieties I planted, one didn’t make it. But the survivors are finally rewarding our patience, and we’re even harvesting a white sprouting variety that I’m completely in love with.

Beyond the tunnel, in the main garden, overwintered spring cabbage reaches high with a surge of energy after months of dormancy…something we can all relate to. Meanwhile, the other beds are filling up one by one with varieties of salads, spinach, broccoli, turnips and onions. It’s been drier than usual, but that’s not a big issue—the thick mulch on our beds is doing its job, locking in moisture. When transplanting young seedlings, I always plant deep so their root balls connect with the damp soil beneath the mulch. They get watered in well to give them the best start, and we cover new plantings with horticultural fleece to protect them from those crisp spring nights.

I don’t want to jinx it, but everything is running rather smoothly so far. And, most importantly, the dryness is keeping the slug population down—something every gardener will appreciate at this time of year.

One of my biggest priorities right now is sowing seed potatoes. My tried-and-tested method of growing them under black polythene is making its return. The beds are well-watered beforehand, and I’ve set up porous irrigation pipes beneath the plastic to ensure they get a steady supply of moisture if we hit a dry spell.

With our last frost date lingering around May 4th, April is prime time for sowing heat-loving crops from the cucurbit family like melons, squash, and cucumbers.  Melons are strictly for the polytunnel of course. I'm also sowing basil and flowers like zinnias, sunflowers, and nasturtiums. If you haven’t started your tomatoes, aubergines, and chillies yet, you may have missed the boat for a decent cropping period.

Now in my fifth year of growing, everything feels more intuitive. I no longer need to check my phone for spacing or timelines before every task. I know how many trays of seedlings I need to fill a bed with a few extras to spare, and I have a sense of exactly when each crop will be ready to harvest. That said, you’ll still catch me standing motionless in the garden, lost in thought, trying to figure out how to fit everything in.

Something else to stare at, the main grounds at Bishopstrow are putting on a show. After dropping off a wheelbarrow full of crates of the day's pickings to the kitchen, I'll do a detour and take Muffy to the dog agility taking in the different areas of the grounds, before heading back to the river garden. The gardening team has done a stellar job over winter, and it’s all paying off now - bulbs are bursting through the soil, and every corner of the grounds is looking better than ever. And the year has only just begun.

It’s an ever-changing, living masterpiece. Highly recommended viewing.