Kent Veg Box: April at last! Time for Wild Garlic, Rhubarb and Salad leaves

I swear March lasted for 6 weeks at least. I know the weather people say it was no colder than average but we seemed to be at the average all month! I don’t remember any warm days at all. I remember cold and snow but is that because my heating blew up? Probably.

April is off to a sunny, warm start, but in the early part of the month there was a bit of frost about. Thankfully the sun was burning it off fast.

We need plenty of these days now, raising the soil temp so the new plants can grow rapidly. The sunshine will help ripen the soft fruit too.

In Kent veg terms we now move into a new season, lots of new growth coming on. We move from roots and bulky veg to green and leafy veg.

We are still blessed with Purple Sprouting Broccoli & Spring Greens. A good thing about their delayed arrival due to the snow is that we still have them with us well into April, backed up by the last of the over-wintered Leeks.

New arrivals include Wild Garlic leaves, Rhubarb and Salad Leaves, all leafy and green. In the next week we should see Pak Choi, Baby Spinach, Lettuces, Spring Onions and Asparagus continuing the theme.

The big question is always when will Kent’s famous soft fruit arrive?

Our friends at Hugh Lowe are just starting to ship Strawberries this week (17/4) so we are up and running! Raspberries & Blackberries will soon follow.

Wild Garlic doesn’t stay for long so make sure you get the best from it. It makes the BEST pesto, which can be frozen, so stock up now. We put our best recipes for Wild Garlic Pesto and others here : https://www.pinterest.co.uk/kentvegbox/recipe-of-the-week/