Distinct absence of April showers

It's been a very dry April, the soil is now rock solid and splitting in big cracks that I would only expect to see at the height of summer. Hopefully adding all the compost will help with that - I've stopped sifting it through the bread crate and just started chucking it by the wheelbarrow-full onto the beds that need it. Sifting would be great in a perfect world but I'll just rake out the big bits instead.

First signs of carrot seedlings this week, they've actually come up faster than my radishes which is a surprise, but it's been too dry for small seeds to germinate properly. Also this month I've been using my liquid worm compost to fertilise my garlic and flowering broad beans. I've also had a big bonfire of old weeds and branches thanks to the dry spell, and collected a bucket full of wood ash which has been spread on my plot. Hopefully all these measures will lead to better crops this year.

Purple sprouting broccoli has now gone purple and started sprouting in abundance, except that half of it has been stripped off by birds. So I've had to construct a big netting pyramid to try and keep them off. I shant bother growing much in the way of brassicas in the future, there are just too many pests out to get them. I am already plotting what to grow next year, and intend to ditch a few of the boring potatoes and onions for something a bit more unusual, now I'm getting the hang of growing stuff.