The days are longer and the days are warmer, in just a week the growth on the plot is noticeable. We put in the last rows of potatoes and dug up the leeks to give us space for this. We have not done well with leeks over the last number of years, a shame as they used to be one of our largest harvests. The allium leaf minor affects them and so I’ve had little or no leeks and onions on the plot for a couple of years. It has maybe paid off as none of these leeks were infected although we didn’t plant many out and for some reason they didn’t grow that much. They are more like Welsh onions than leeks, but worth harvesting all the same.

At the other end, this years leeks I have just transferred seedlings from the tray into their own plug cells, three leeks per cell. For the first time, I’ve trimmed the leeks, I’ve seen a lot of people do this and I wonder if it will help concentrate on growing the width instead of the height. Also transplanted lettuce from the plug cells into the garden.

We came home with:

• rhubarb
• leeks
• purple sprouting