Dinner

The first meal of the spring is always an epic. On Saturday the menu consisted of broad beans, courgettes and red skinned new potatoes. The bean feast this year has been badly affected first by frost and then by the black fly and a few bird strikes. Last year we planted some Aquadulce Claudia beans, known for their winter hardiness in the November but this time we didn't get round to it. I suspect as we had a lot more snow and frost this year that they wouldn't have survived if we had done that again but it's still disappointing when one favourite crop fails. The courgettes are starting off nicely though. The first fruits always seem to be a little feeble but they still fed us well.
The spuds were a UK variety that we planted some months ago. One or two plants have wilted due to a creature eating the main stem at the base but it has made the tubors inedible.
Meanwhile the apples are swelling and our pear tree is looking well.