Last year I documented developments in our low-input, minimum work second polytunnel, 6x4 m in size, which had been cleared by a group of roosters and planted with a dense polyculture of 33 species and cultivars of crop plants, beneficials and so on. This year it has taken on a different look: while some perennials have stayed put, the already cleared ground allowed for early sowings of radishes and salad crops. I had left all plant residue in place over the winter and just gathered it up and did a little bit of weeding prior to sowing. No digging!

The remaining surplus roosters from 2012 are presently residing in, clearing and manuring polytunnel #1; this will shortly house tomatoes, cucumbers, and the 3 sisters maize, beans and squash/courgettes/pumpkins as well as the usual insectary plants etc.

Meanwhile #2 is home to early spring crops and the seed-starting trays.

So what's growing?

Bronze Fennel, Monarda (Bee balm) and Malva sylvestris are perennials and survived the winter, as did the Swiss chard. The latter will go to seed soon but should yield a few pounds of greens before it does and a seed crop after. In January I planted about 35 cloves of garlic 'Vallelado' which has come on very well. I have the same amount again outdoors for comparison. The groundcover in this section was radishes and corn salad though mice (or a stray rooster?) seem to have eaten most of the seed.

Perennials in this section are Yarrow 'Cerise Queen', Agastache (Mexican Hyssop), Lemon Verbena, Walking Onions. The parsley has also survived but looks like it's going to flower and set seed. I sowed radishes and corn salad in rows here. Again, the corn salad seems to have fallen victim to some critter. I've been harvesting radishes for a week now with plenty to come. Amongst them you can see some self-seeded Osaka Purple Mustard which I introduced from tunnel #1 where it has been self-seeding faithfully for 13 years now. 

The other two sections were sowed with polycultures in late March, similar to the Ianto Evan's polyculture I tried last year in my other polytunnel (see http://permacultureglobal.org/posts/2408). They have exploded into growth now and have gotten much denser and bigger even since I took this photo 4 days ago. The big Spring flush! We are now harvesting a nice bowl of greens daily, mostly rocket, but Mizuna is coming on fast as are the radishes and lettuces.

The mix here contains:

Pot Marigold
Endive 'Winter of Bordeaux'
Outredgeous Lettuce
Chartwell Lettuce
20 Lettuce Blend
Stir Fry Mixed Greens
Arugula/Rocket
Radish 'Riesenbutter'
Dill
Parsnip 'Bedford Monarch'
The containers around it are filled with water for heat buffering/retention. Ideally they should be all around the bed but I ran out of containers...When the sun shines temps can reach 35C or more but at night we still get the odd frost, so it helps to buffer these extremes a little. The black bin to the left does the same for the seed trays on top of it.

The other bed contains:

Row of mangetout peas at the back
Hollyhock in the corner
Existing yarrow plant
Nasturtiums
Pot Marigold
Rocket/Arugula
Corn salad
Rouge d'Hiver lettuce
Cracoviensis (red celtuce)
Radish German beer
Carrot James's Scarlet (for baby carrots)

I couldn't help myself and just had to plant a little peach tree ('Peregrine' - the most widely planted cultivar in the UK). It was very cold here in March (coldest March in 56 years) when it flowered so I'm not holding my breath for even a single fruit this year. It sits on the North side of the tunnel and will be sort of fan-trained to fill the back wall. I'm hoping that the black water-filled barrels also help to improve the climate for it a little.

These trays hold the promise of future food (and flowers). Because of our exceptionally cold spring this year everything is about 4 few weeks behind though growing fast now with the long daylight hours. These sowings so far include:
Spring onions - 2 varieties
Nodding onions
Welsh onions
Leeks - 2 varieties
Kenikir (Cosmos sulphureus)
Sweetscented Joe-Pie weed  (Eupatorium purpureum)      
Southern Cone Marigold (Tagetes minuta)
Tagetes tenuifolia
Globe artichoke
Dahlia coccinea
Cauliflower -  2 varieties 
Purple Sprouting Broccoli
Red Cabbage 
Maca root (Lepidium peruvianum)   
Mangel  (fodder beet)  -  2 varieties
Rainbow Chard
Melon  'Most Northern' (though so far I haven't had any luck growing these)
Cucumbers - 3 varieties
Pickling gherkins
Kiwano
Winter Squash - 6 varieties
Summer Squash/Zucchini/Courgette - 4 varieties
Mouse melon (Melothria scabra/ Zehneria scabra)   
Shiso, Bi-coloured (Perilla frustescens)      
Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca)
Greek oregano (Origanum heracleoticum)        
Sweetpeas
Tree lupins (Lupinus arboreus)
Okra  (experimental) 
Melokhia (salad mallow/experimental)
various other members of the Malvacea family (Alcea rosea v. nigra, Althaea officinalis, Lavatera olbia, Malva sylvestris)
Californian poppy
Sweetcorn - 2 varieties
Strawberries and Musk strawberries (Fragaria moschata)
Sweet peppers - 3 hardy'ish' varieties (though I usually have no luck with these...), same goes for aubergines
Cape gooseberries (experimental)
Tomatoes - Alisa Craig, Aurora, Black Prince, Brandywine, Chadwick Cherry, Costoluto Genovese, Henderson's Pink Ponderosa, Ildi, Jaune Flamme, Moneymaker, Pollock, Rose, Santa Cruz Kada, Silver Fir Tree, Stupice, Yellow Pear (I only sow 2 or 3 cells in the tray of each variety and then plant the strongest one, giving me one side in polytunnel #1 covered in tomatoes with a nice range of types, colours, and aromas). Any strong extra plants always find takers.
Nasturtiums - 6 varieties
Par-cel (Apium graveolens var. dulce)
Celeriac
Fennel
Lovage

I still have to pre-grow more herbs, sunflowers and some other bits and pieces. The above are mostly for protected cropping, while some are started indoors for outdoor growing, such as the mangels for our goats or the leeks and Brassicas.

I have finally managed to begin work on the center keyhole bed though a lot more stones need to be hauled and earth filled in. 20 or so strawberry plants await being planted into the sides and a bunch of herbs will go onto the top. Oh yes, and there is a Feijoa also waiting in the wings (in the pot in the back).

The first tasty morsels of the year. Not exactly a stomach-filler but a start nonetheless. Here's to future food and a warmer, more sun-filled summer than last year.

May 5 Update: Sowed some more plants today - a good way to spend International Permaculture Day:

Some more Spring onions and leeks
Chives
Broadleaf chives
Mixed Amaranths incl. Calaloo
Lettuces (5 varieties)
Kale
Cabbage
Hyssop
Basil (Red, Sacred, Cinnamon, Lettuce-leaved)
Oregano
Lemon grass
Cilantro
Parsley