Pushing up the daisies

I am not sure there is any crop as magical as potatoes. You put a potato in the ground and three months later - it has turned itself into 7 or 8 potatoes! There is also the fun of digging round to see where the spuds have actually grown. The Belle de Fontenay planted between the last week of February and the first ten days of March are ready. The crop is even better than last year perhaps because we had a lot of rain but some bright patches too. They are sweet and delicious. I even had again some purple Vitelottes come up. I sowed those once two seasons ago and yet they still seem to keep growing!I tidied up the ones still growing, taking off old leaves, weeding and spraying wit Bordeaux mixture. I realised why I was not getting more artichokes. The plant has been infested with aphids! Grrr how annoying. I have tried washing them off with a spray of water, see how that goes. The broad beans too have been particularly affected and I took out 3 plants which were infested.they are also harbouring some kind of fungus, The leaves have turned a bronze colour. I took them out, fertilised and sowed some climbing beans in their place. The leeks have not worked again so I will have to go get some plants. I will not sow them again, it's a waste of time and space and seed. The courgettes are looking great, they are in flower already. The accocha is still fairly small but it has grown and is putting out tendrils, so I put in some pea sticks to help it climb. The tomatoes are very sturdy and I tied them in and mulched as best I could. This weekend we have eaten - lettuce, baby leaves, chives, rosemary and mint, the first snow peas, some broad beans and a few strawberries and more rhubarb (the best crop ever). The weather has been very warm but with some night rains and this seems to make the plants thrive. Soon we will be harvesting gooseberries and red currants and the garlic will probably be ready in a week. On holidays recently I saw something very unusual - a field of artichokes! Pics to follow...