News from the Polytunnel

I haven't spent a lot of time in the polytunnel lately, it being the Easter holidays and the kids thinking that there were better things to do. I have popped in to water, open vents and gasp at the number of weeds which have emerged. Viz from this to this:





Today however was the first day back at school and my first day back in the polytunnel. So now it looks like this:



So far it is going quite well. The lettuce are coming up, the mangetout have too, and the fennel. Also coriander and rocket. The basil was a no-show entirely which makes me wonder about the seeds, and the peas didn't germinate either.

Today we also found a molehill, an ants nest (despatched by kettle), and lots and lots of odd looking black flies. Lazy not very bright long and odd looking black flies. Not keen on them but I'm not really sure what we can do about them. Any idea what they are? or if they're friend or foe? They look like this: