For the avid gardener and even more so for the avid gardener who relies on their garden for food, there is no sight more thrilling than seedlings pushing up through the bare ground. Broad beans and peas are unfurling their first tender leaves and a few parsnips are just beginning to show. Fed up with annual failure to germinate decent numbers of parsnips, this year I chitted them in the airing cupboard on damp cotton wool , putting them in the ground just as the tiny rootlets became visible. Alarmingly less than a quarter of the seed germinated in these ideal conditions and I am suddenly less surprised that the parsnip rows have been a little sparse in years past.
Broad Bean Seedlings
The days are warm and the salad cops planted back in the freezing month of March are a welcome additions to almost every lunch.
