The Allotment in April

Things are starting to speed up down at the allotment and after a couple of months of forgeting to take the camera down to record any changes I now have two sets of pictures taken at the beginning and at the end of the month so that you can see how much changes in just a few weeks at this time of year.
If you click on the small images you should seea larger version of the same image

Early April
Most of the beds have been dug over, and the early potatoes and brassicas have been put in under fleece. The trees and bushes have practically no leaves		One major project this winter has been to re arrange the strawberry plants into 2 raised beds. This should make the strawberries easier to pick when the time comes and also makes room for a few new plants. I have sent for a strawberry called Marshmallow from Marshalls, which sounds very promising from the descriptions in the catalogue, but then they always do.
Onion and garlic sets that were put in in March and shallot sets that were put in in February are starting to show		In early april the purple sprouting broccli was cropping quite well
The fruit trees which I planted last year seem to have survived the winter and have definite signs of green buds. The blackcurrant and redcurrant are already starting to leaf and the new gooseberry bush is as well. The rhubarb seems to have survived the transplant as have the alpine strawberries.		The new shed as modelled by Paul is proving very useful as I can now store more clutter than ever over at the allotment, and the smart green plastic compares very favourably with the wooden sheds on each side.
Late April
All the beds have now been dug over the potatoes have been earthed up and are starting to grow strongly under their protective covering, as are the brassicas		By the end of april the broccoli was giving a very large crop
By now all the onion family sets are stating to grow quite strongly. The wooden cold frame mended by Paul this winter is standing up well (it has early carrots in it) and the giant red mustard is still yielding up leaves for salads and stirfry.		The stand of wild cherries are now in full bloom and look very pretty. My own bed of minaret trees have now come properly into leaf and there are even some flowers on one of the apples. The currant bushes are also doing well and have a lot of flowers.
Because the land is so stony root crops do not do well, so I have used the new bulb planter that Paul got for me to excavate holes which I will fill with compost and sieved topsoil. These can then be planted with turnips and carrots. This method worked well last year and I hope it will again.