By Angela Hoy

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A welcome sunny day after Sunday’s washout!

Alex thought we might have had a slight frost overnight and so we all tasted the different Brassicas and leaves to see if we could detect a sweet or salty taste caused by the plant producing more sugar or salt in response to the cold.

The main job this week was preparing a bed for the broad beans, also known as fava beans. We reformed the bed and gave it a light coating of compost.

We planted two double rows — 300 seeds! — and then covered the row with straw mulch to prevent weeds and protect the seeds from too much rain and snow. We decided to save the remainder of the seeds for sowing in February and March and will compare the results when harvested in May and June.

Today’s harvest included kale, ruby chard (from the greenhouse), a few salad leaves and some broccoli shoots. Amazingly, the raspberries are still ripening on the canes, and the blueberry bushes have turned a glorious shade of red!