As always, there’s lots going on in the garden.

It’s been unseasonably warm, and many things are extremely advanced in comparison to other years.

We are also really hoping for a substantial amount of rain, but so far, this hasn’t happened.

Several of the plants I planted last year are beginning to flourish; the vines have fresh young leaves, and several of the herbs are already spreading. That’s exactly what I want, because the aim will be to have all the bare soil covered with edibles or ornamentals as the ‘ground cover’ layer of the food forest. This will hold in the moisture, and add structure as debris gets trapped underneath and eventually adds to the soil.

The biggest surprise was our crop of outside grown deep purple tomatoes. These were grown from seed in a large pot, and other than having water and some shelter, have very kindly given us a harvest with hardly any effort!

Happy February gardening!