Asparagus! Seedbeds! Growing chillies and peppers

Well, I've spent the weekend with my son and, apart from all the totally enjoyable social aspects of his company, we have been spending time on his new allotment. His plot is in Newcastle ( North East England for the un-initiated - this is much colder and at least a month behind where I  usually garden). That said, the weather was beyond springtime, we were working in t-shirts.
I do hope he writes a Blog here as we have got his plot so 'sorted'. In fact, his potato planting is ahead of mine in the 'warm gentle SW'. I know it is only the end of March but, already we are having temperatures above those we can often have in summertime - But, don't be complaisant, it really is still March and we can be hit by a very damaging frost for the next few weeks.
I do wonder at the idea of the fixed seasons. At the end of 2010 we had unprecedented snow and frost in November, into December. Although snow in December is rare for the South West UK, to have such heavy persistent snow so early in the winter season is very, very uncommon. Okay then, maybe it was going to be a particularly harsh, long winter - these are not unknown and affect us about every 20 - 30 years or so. This harsh winter has been followed by a very early spring which is even more uncommon. I come from a part of the country which has much harsher weather than SW England and, I've been around for a few years! I have no memory of such 'out of season' weather conditions. At the end of March we have weather, plant growth, nesting birds outside of the norm.
Having been away for a few days, the first thing I did today was to feed the birds on my plot (as they are nesting, it is most important they have a constant supply of suitable food). Also had to water my outdoor seedbeds and water seed beds and potatoes in my polytunnel.

The progress has been amazing outside and inside.
In the poly tunnel the early potatoes are now 6inches(15cm)high - they are doing well but, they must have enough water to develop properly.
My seed beds are progressing well: I have successional sowings of :-
Cauliflower - Dobies - All Year Round
Cauliflower - Romanesco - F1   Dobies ( you know, those beautiful swirly, delicate flavoured green ones)
Brussels Sprouts - Bedford ( Dobies)
Brussels Sprouts - Maximus F1 ( Dobies)
Lettuce - Cos - Vaila - Winter gem ( Dobies)
Leeks - I have some F1 Carlton from a March 1st sowing - they are well on - but few. I won't do them again.
All of these are doing well from sowings in a cold tunnel from early spring - some earlier sowings of lettuce in my propagator have been planted out and are surviving/ growing on well.
 I have also later sown, in my poly tunnel-
Cabbage - Primo. Cauli - Romanesco, Cauli - All year round, Lettuce - Cos, Vaila, Winter Gem, Brussels sprouts - Maximus and Bedford.
It is so easy to get bogged down in the aspect of sowing seeds and forget the progress outside. I have been particularly distressed by the total failure of my chilli seeds - all types from several sources (And I had bought a new 'state-of-the-art' propagator). My favourites are Joe's Long - available for most good seed suppliers. As a chilli they are predictable for heat, easy to grow and very suitable for drying. But, it's not too late. I have bought another packet of seed and will sow again. Last year I had just 1 plant and still have a long string of dried chillies from it, left from last autumn. My Jalapenos from last year were very disappointing. They grew well and produced a very satisfying crop but, amazingly, there was no heat in them. I discussed this with a friend who also grew them, with similar results. We decided that the cool wet late summer meant there was not enough sunshine when the fruits were ripening.. If anyone has any ideas on this, I would love to hear from you.
My peppers last year were so excellent. One small plant, no more than 15inches (40cm) high produced 8 huge, chunky, juicy fruits with such excellent flavour. I have never been a huge fan of peppers but, the flavour of the homegrown ones was so good that I am planning to fill all available spaces in my tunnel with them this year. I have sown California Wonder ( a freebee from a gardening magazine last year) and Beaver Dam (I have bought these from Dobies but, I think they are probably common enough to buy form any main supplier). And, at this stage I must say, in SW England, where it is really quite mild for the UK, my successes with capsicums has been inside my polytunnel. I planted some outdoors and they did grow but, the cool wet late summer ensured that the ripening process was so slow that slugs ate or damaged the fruit beyond using. I guess, if you have spare young plants and a spare well fertilised spot, it is worth trying with the hope of having a warm, dry late summer. If you do try, please let me know how you get on with them.

Well! asparagus! It is still the end of March and, already I have a few spears ready to cut. A couple of years ago several plot holders on my allotment field ( including me) 're-homed' some very mature asparagus plants on a plot which was so derelict it was going to be covered with black polythene for a couple of years before reallocating. It did seem a shame to allow the asparagus crowns to die. I put 4 of them into a suitable spot on my plot. A few weeks later I discovered I had also brought that awful weed -horsetail - entangled in the asparagus roots. However, I kept watch on it carefully and after repeatedly pulling up the horsetail as it appeared I think! really, I just think, I have got rid of it. I've allowed this asparagus 2 years to establish and this year - no really, this week, I am going to cut some to eat.
I also bought some 1 year old crowns for planting - seperately from the re-homed ones ( I bought mine from Dobies but, like other seeds, they are avaible from any reputable seed company). You can also buy 2 year old crowns which will be, presumably, ready for picking earlier.
Asparagus crowns are expensive to buy so, it is important to follow the instructions provided with these young plants. They do need well cultivated, freely draining soil (I am on heavy clay but, it is absolutely possible to ensure this can provide a good home for asparagus); need lots of well rotted manure (with a mulch of this in autumn) and definitely, definitely do NOT pick for the first 2 years. This is a plant which will give you good crops of wonderful, delicious asparagus for 20years or more but, only if you allow it to establish and treat it well. Think long term. Only cut the spears during the normal asparagus season - May /June, then leave the plants alone. The following spears, which grow up into metre high 'ferns' are needed to ensure the health of the crowns for the next year. That said, watch out for asparagus beetle. The beetle themselves don't seem to do much damage but, they will lay eggs by the thousand which will hatch into very nasty little dark green larvae which will demolish your asparagus ferns and ultimately kill the crowns. Do check these out. They don't like Derris Powder (no longer available). I'm afraid I don't know of any other organic solution than picking off the beetles when you see them and crushing. If you miss the beetles at the early stage you will have to (carefully - you don't want todamage the ferns) pick off the larvae and squash them - Ugh! I really hate this job.

But more later - next time I will talk about fruit - bush fruit, canes and strawberries - I'm a novice on fruit trees.