Frogspawn!

Time flies! It's difficult to believe we have been writing our River Cottage Diary for over 3 years now. I forgot to mention the frogs, and of course that won't do in Spring. Through March our drains were full of constantly croaking frogs. As a result we now have numerous jelly islands of spawn in our drains. We had to rescue it quickly and transfer much of it to our miniature patio ponds as our ducks regard it as caviar. Looking forward to lots of tadpoles in a few weeks. Marsh Marigolds are flowering profusely with their lovely big golden buttercup blooms as well as periwinkles, primrose, daffodils and wood anemones. Cyclamen coum have gone over but the dusky purple hellebore is a picture. We have been noting where the blackthorn is flowering - we shall need sloes in autumn to make more River Cottage Sloe gin - our supply has run out due to popular demand! Slán.

Spring Update

Here at River Cottage on Achill island in County Mayo, Ireland, the daffodils and pussy willow are out and we are busy sowing and planting now the days are lengthening and there is some warmth to aid seed germination.

We have now doubled our raised beds to seven which will allow us to grow far more of what we enjoy eating.

We sowed our 2nd early potatoes a couple of weeks ago after harvesting the remains of our Jerusalem artichoke and carrot crop.
Herb seeds have germinated - we now have a raised herb bed in a sunny position and look forward to fresh supplies of basil, parsley, dill, chives, thyme, rosemary, sage, mint, borage and lemon balm. Fennel is a weed here that grows to 7 feet.

We shall grow some poached egg plants nearby and nasturtiums, the former flower their heads off all summer and self-seed prolifically as well as having a glorious honey-scent which attracts bees from miles around.

We have re-set some jerusalem artichokes and divisions of horseradish (we managed to make another 3 pots of horseradish sauce - fabulous stuff! Nothing like shop bought.)

Onions and broad beans are planted and shallots will go in the ground tomorrow. Continuing to grow organically in raised beds and the yields and flavour of our produce just keeps getting better we're glad to say. No pest attacks - we suspect using fleece as much as possible is aiding growth as well as preventing disease and insect attack.

Have a lovely Easter! I'm going out in the sun with a glass of Pimms.