That’s not to say it’s sprung yet, we could yet have some cold weather on the way, but we out here in Tuscany have been very lucky with some lovely warm sunny days filled with springtime birdsong.
You can see the change in our seedlings too: we gave them a helping hand in a heated propagator at first, but now they are big enough to be planted out in bigger pots before being put out in the garden proper in a month or so.
Our main crop as usual is tomatoes – we can’t get enough of them! There’s a great variety of seeds we saved from last year, called Amish Paste, which is perfect for passata (supplemented by the delicious Costeluto Fiorentino) and for eating in delicious salads – maybe with some fresh buffalo mozzarella? – we have everything from the tiger striped green (specific variety unknown) and red cherries to the tiny and abundant yellow Millefiore.
Alongside the hundred odd little tomato plants (well, at least we hope we get that many, one of the cats did manage to sneak in and lie on top of them, they do love a warm place!) we have a few sorts of chillies and peppers, lettuces, spring cabbages, flowers and peas – these last recently planted out in the garden – fresh peas soon!