Rhubarb

I picked the first of my Rhubarb this week. 

I love the beautiful pink stalks.

The plants have really put on a lot of growth over the past couple of weeks although as you can see they are starting to bolt. This can happen for various reasons including drought conditions so I have cut down the flowering spikes and will make sure they are kept well watered.

I prepared the Rhubarb and made some into lovely crumble. 

My Broad Beans are doing well (as are the weeds after being left for a few weeks). No sign of blackfly (yet) and plenty of ladybirds so fingers crossed.

The Spinach and Chard are growing fast, recovering well from the snow and frosts. I have been picking this continually since last summer and there seems to be an endless supply. It will probably start to bolt soon but I have another row ready and waiting.

These are some of my Dahlia tubers. I started them into growth in trays of damp compost in my porch a few weeks ago in an attempt to take cuttings and increase the number of plants I have. I've never tried this with Dahlia's before so here goes!

These are the new shoots for cuttings.

Take a sharp knife and cut as close to the tuber as possible leaving a tiny sliver of tuber attached.

Remove the lower leaves.

Insert the cuttings around the edge of a small pot of free draining damp compost (I used John Innes No.1). You can dip them into hormone rooting powder first to aid rooting but I couldn't find mine.

Label and cover with a cut down clear plastic bottle top or a plastic bag and place in a frost free place (like a porch or windowsill) but out of direct sunlight.