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John makes the best of the late spring weather down on the allotment

W eather in Tayside has been perfect for gardening these last few weeks. We have had enough rainfall to moisten the soil, followed by some dry, warm days to catch up on planting and sowing.

Green manure crops of tares and clover sown last autumn have all been dug in. Their fibrous root systems have been great for breaking up the soil and it has been easy to get a deep surface tilth.

Lettuce, radish, spring onions, beetroot and rocket were all sown several weeks ago in the greenhouse in cellular trays to give me strong plug plants for planting.

They were planted in the shelter of my south-facing allotment fence (sheets of corrugated iron) to give them ideal conditions for rapid growth, so harvesting can begin in a few weeks for some, though the beetroot takes a wee while longer.

These salads will be followed by more of the same sown directly outdoors to give a succession of cropping.

I have extended the salad sowings to include a row of Red Veined sorrel, Rainbow Chard and spinach Matador.

Turnip Golden Ball for summer picking and Swede Best Of All for cropping in autumn and winter were also sown.

Other root crops included beetroot Detroit, Cylindra, parsnip Albion and Student. Parsnips are slow to germinate, so it is necessary to mark the rows and, as I have found germination to be a bit erratic, I sow the seeds thicker than normal.

If I get a good germination they can easily be thinned out. I am also trying out some salsify, a root crop I grew 40 years ago, so thought I would try it again.

A row of carrot Nantes has been sown in between four rows of onions in the hope of escaping the attention of carrot fly. These onion sets planted in mid April are now all growing strongly. I have two varieties, Centurion and Stuttgarter Giant for comparison.

Leeks sown in early March are all through the ground but still quite small, as warm growing weather has been in short supply.

Potatoes are all through and although they were earthed up against a late frost a few weeks ago, they now need another final earthing up.

Sown in early March, broad bean Aquadulce was a fast grower, so quickly

Leeks sown in early March are all through the ground but still quite small, as warm weather has been in short supply