It’s been a rainy grey day today, so I concentrated on transferring seedlings from the propagators into bigger pots.  I only have plastic greenhouses and they’re nowhere near as warm or insulated as a real glass greenhouse so all the young plants have to stay indoors for a while yet.  As a result, the dining table is now a jungle.  I’m sure I heard Tarzan swishing between the branches at one point.

Venturing out to the garden it was nice to check on things which are starting to grow.  I spotted the first leaves forming on the fig tree.

And looking closer, there were the first tiny figs.  These are a miniscule 1cm wide at present.

If the plant performs as well as it has in recent years, late in the summer it’ll have a good number of tasty fruits which thrive in sunshine, seemingly turning the heat into juicy sweetness.

Nearby, the advantages of over-wintering vegetables were evident.  In the past few weeks, these Douce Provence pea plants have grown a great deal and their tendrils are climbing up the netting.

They’ll be ready for picking much earlier than the spring-planting varieties I sowed a couple of weeks ago, which are currently covered with mesh to keep birds off them.  Having both types makes for a nicely long harvest season.

And next to the peas is this vibrant red-veined sorrel plant.  Very vigorous and hardy, I don’t think anything could harm it and, happily, pests don’t seem interested in it.

That’s probably to do with its sour taste, but I like to use it similarly to spinach, wilting it and stirring it into other dishes.  Once the sun comes back, this and everything else should really flourish.