In the greenhouse are these few pots, at the back in the yellow is Dill, and in the front is the pre-germinated parsnips apart from the front left which is a chard tube.
This is the first planted growbag of the year, some little gem lettuce which look like the first leaves are ready for cutting. The trough of mixed green leaves i planted, not pictured, is coming on strong also and should provide leaves ina week or so.
I started to do dig over the central part of the plot, covered with tarpaulin currently, and will do a part little by little over the next month. This area will be for the summer crops such as the squashes and sweetcorn among others. Below are an example of some of the weeds i dug out of the part pictured. The length of the roots shows how important it is to carefully remove all traces of the roots of courch grass as it regrows so vigorously.
This is a great show of my beans coming through, from the first showing through of green tips and lifting of soil, and the actual opening of bean seed itself.


The sweetcorn starting to come through.
The first sowing of peas has now come through and i'm protect them with some squash bottle cloches, and have also sowed the second sowing and these are getting a warming from the glass panes. I will sow a third lot next week and repeat to try and get a good cropping this year.
The next lot of purple sprouting is coming along now and will be ready for central head removal soon to speed up the side shoot production.
In between the onions i have again sowed a row of carrots, this time Autumn King as companion planting seem to work last year to prevent carrot fly.
The last two rows here next to the border now sowed up with (next to border first) parsnips White Gem, and then swede Marian. The turnips are also now starting to show through so i'll start to thin them soon
Ths solitary white sprouting broccoli is starting to form a head!!

23/4/08

Getting lots more seeds sown in the last few days, including a tray of beetroot Bolthardy in case the row i sowed does not come through, a large tray of mixed herbs just to see what comes up and separate pots of orgeano too.
I have also finally sown my tomatoes, which is a variety called Pomodoro San Marzano 2 which is a plum ideal for sauces which plenty of flesh and few seeds. The cucumber variety Telegraph improved also was started in the propagator.

In the greenhouse i transplanted some lettuce seedlings into a trough to grow on and seem to have taken, and also a few little gem lettuce which i put straight into a grow bag and look like the first few leaves will be ready for picking in a week i think. I also planted a single courgette Gold Rush which will be hopefully an early greenhouse provider before the outdoor ones get in season, and a few pots of spinach as the transplanted ones are looking a little weak and i'm not sure if they will survive.

The pots of chard have just come through, as have some of the leeks and broccoli. Still awaiting germination of the sweetcorn, climbing french beans and dill at the moment. The sunflowers and dwarf french beans all look very healthy and look like they want planting out very soon but i'm concerned its to early still with the frisks of frosts.


At the plot i sowed at the bottom end a row of swede Marian and put in a thickly sowed row of parsnips Hollow Crown in a trench of purchased soil which should avoid the problem of my stoney soil causing forking. I also put bottle cloches over the peas that have emerged and sowed a second crop and using some recently acquired window panes erected a glass cloche over that area of soil to warm it up and speed up germination hopefully.

sunshine and digging

has been the order of the day recently which has been nice, an hour here and there and i've alot done.
I had to move the compost bin so i dug a bean trench and placed half the good compost in it, and dug another one for the remaining potatoes Desiree which i put in yesterday morning. The dwarf fench beans i planted with my daughter a few weeks back are growing nicely and are in the greenhouse now , and i today sowed 20 climbing french beans 'blue lake' all for the trench next month hopefully.
This is the path edging i have done this week, not the straightest but it does the job, and the compost bin in its new home. i still need to do some parts of the top of the path which have now also started to give way.

I have also sowed this week a tray of broccoli autumn spear, pots of chard, dill and potted on some spinach sown indoors. I was given by an colleague from india some chilli seeds of a hot chilli pepper variety unknown and i sowed 3 pots up today which went into the propagator this evening. Next up is to sow tomatoes, and swede, turnip and parsnips directly in the plot.

quickly

i popped in the first row of beetroot 'bolthardy' and a row of turnips 'purple marian top' i think its called, in rows next to the onions towards the bottom end of plot.

2/4/08

As i'm off on holiday for a week i have stopped seed sowing about a week ago, the few seeds that have germinated have either died off or are sturdy enough to survive in the greenhouse now with a good watering. When i return the sowing will go into overdrive, starting with tomatoes,chillies and cucumbers, and then tray sowings of beetroots, chard, cabbage, cauliflower, french beans just to start with.

I also just popped over to the plot to get in the first sowing of peas 'kelvedon wonder' which i am determined to properly successional sow this year. I also put in a first sowing of carrots 'early nantes 5' in a space between 2 rows of onions, which seemed successful last year in keeping away the carrot fly. Again when i get back i have plenty of seeds to get straight into the plot, which should be easier now the evening s are lighter.

Potato's in

I had a chance this morning to go for a couple of hours so i put in the Red Baron onions and Red Sun shallots that i had growing on in some trays for the last month, and they had quite good root structure on them as well as some starting to show green shoots.

I also managed to put in 2 rows of potatoes, the 1st earlies Foremost and 2nd earlies Marfona. All i need now is to put in the final row of main crop Desiree and i have a small pack of Lady Christl also to put into a barrel/container.

24/3/08

I finished digging over the top part of the plot last week apart from a small grassy section, and my MIL kindly came and did the bottom part and some weeding also so the plot is looking ready for the new season, apart from the covered area which will need careful digging to remove as much couch grass roots as possible. This will be tackled when the weather improves and the evenings lighten up.The plots' secretary phoned me to say he had arranged for a few boards to be delivered to repair the path edge. It had been left to disintegrate so much that the path is joining the plot, and really needs attention. So this is a great help, i'll just have to sort that this summer also.
Purple sprouting broccoli just waiting to be picked, despite having 4 or 5 plants of good size only this one is producing spears so far. Hopefully this means the others will start later and prolong the season?
With my daughter who wanted to play in the shed with the soil (!) i got her to help plant some seeds. I thought that some dwarf french beans would be best, easy for her to handle, and its only a little early for them. I used the variety 'the prince' and in the propagtor they are now germinating. Whether they survive til planting i dont know but she had fun anyway!!

and more

The Red Baron onions and some Red Sun shallots i also picked up i started of in trays of compost in the shed, a method i read about somewhere. It seems to have worked as they have rooted well, some even starting to show green tips. I moved them into the greenhouse today to start hardening them off.

I sowed today some more seeds for the propagator, some savoy cabbage 'ormskirk', more spinach 'Monet F1', and maybe a bit early but some lettuce mixed leaves also.

The 'White Gem' parsnips also now have been start to be potted up, about 9 had germinated so went into loo rolls and into the greenhouse also.

I hope to get back over to the allotment again soon, i've turned over about 2/5ths ready for planting, and the potatoes are chitting so may end up in this area.

seedlings

the first seeds sowed have been in the propogator for a few days now and have started sprouting. Here comes 2008!!!
These above are the first through, cauliflowers 'all year round', and a couple of Brussels sprouts, same variety as last year.

These are parsnip seeds. I have always had trouble growing them, a common problem, and read about pre-germinating them on damp kitchen roll first, and as you can see a few have started to sprout! Hopefully i'll have more in the next few days.

26/2/08

Starting to tidy up the plot now and get things ready for the new season. I removed all the remaining plants (chard, swedes) still in the ground and have started to dig the soil over. The spring greens are still in the ground, although the cabbages and cauliflowers are not looking great, only a few have survived. The sprouting broccoli are appearing stronger though and a couple have even started to sprout so a small crop may still be had hopefully.

I also have bought a fruit collection from Aldi which was only £1.99 and is 3 roots, a redcurrant Jonkheer van Tets, Goosberry Red dessert, and Raspberry Glen Ample.