Pushing up the daisies

Unusually warm weather for March, over 20 deg!!! The plants are romping away, needless to say. The onions have their little green tops, and the shallots too, bless 'em. The strawberries are getting a few leaves and even a couple of flowers here and there. Green shoots on the raspberries and gooseberries and rhubarb.
The artichokes are struggling on, I found that the other Italian artichoke, that I had thought lost, is also pushing up small shoots. It is growing in almost pure manure! Who knows whether I will get 'chokes from it but I think they will be quite something if I do!
I didn't do much as of course it was a gorgeous weekend and the family wanted to go out. But I planted the purple vitelotte spuds, that's all the spuds in now, and shifted a bit of manure about and watered a little. I need to go down later today to hoe and water and empty the very smelly compost box under my sink, so I will try to take some pics. Went over to summer time this weekend so the evenings are much longer and brighter!
Only harvest was the sprouting broccoli (delicious) and some parsley. But I have high hopes for the radish although it will need a lot of water this week before it can be picked.

Labels: potato, seedlings, spring

Still no rain, but lovely April weather, so it doesn't do to complain. I am pleased because the indoor seedlings are doing well (except the courgettes that don't seem to want to sprout) including the ones that I just pricked out over the weekend, and I had to go down the lottie to water and saw that the new seedlings are coming on wonderfully - the pricked out lettuce and beets seem to have taken, as have the broccoli, and the peas are thriving. I will have to go down and water again though, probably tomorrow morning. The new season's crops have come up so well, I don't want to comprimse them via lack of water.
I gave the strawberries a good soak yesterday , as they are under black plastic they should be ok - they have lots of flowers, which means lots of fruit! Yum, can't wait, I only ever eat my own now, more or less. Others are just awful in comparison!

Labels: drought, peas, seedlings, spring, strawberry

off work for half an hour to come and sow seeds! Yes, that does seem rather extreme, I admit. But this weekend, I am selling our crap in a garage sale and then Sunday we are invited out, so no gardening possible this weekend.
But I got me seeds from DT Browns! I am trying to ensure more even cropping throughout the year so this year I took advice and got in some more brassica seeds, autumn varieties so I can keep harvesting as much as possible.
I bought:

• Artichokes: these are now in the seedbed, I am hoping to renew my stock for next year.
• Beetroot, a late variety (Monoruba?). I will sow them a bit later, when I have had time to prepare a little space.
• Durham spring cabbage, that's for sowing in summer.
• Cauliflower - the All Year Round failed totally, so won't try that variety again, I bought a winter hardy variety and I sowed it today.
• Pak Choi- my first time growing these! sowed them this morning
• Kale, curly variety - my neighbour gave me some of this last year and I admit it was delicious. I have grown winter cabbage before (cow cabbage) but this seems finer and tastier. It also makes the garden look productive even in very cold weather :-)
• Libon winter onions, for cropping in early spring - they get sown later too.

I also sowed some green broccoli and coriander (in modules) and some Flyaway carrots, to fill in an empty space in the current carrot patch. The carrots are off to a good start this year, there is still hope then!
Next week I will try to find time to sow some more lettuce, although the ones that have been planted recently are starting to be well established. I will be able to start harvesting the cut and come agains I think. I also noticed that my squashes have germinated in the coldframe, I will plant them out in a week or so once they have their proper leaves. For now, the melons seem ok, they had been covered up a little by my straw, so I exposed them again. Perhaps not my best idea. Soon they will be too big for that to be a problem. The other plantations from the long weekend seem to have recovered from the trauma of being planted out, even the aubergines which worried me, and are eagerly drinking the rain we had yesterday and last night. Not nearly enough but at least it helps a little. Now the garden just needs a good weeding and it will be well on the way to success!

Labels: artichoke, brassica, broccoli, carrots, caulis, coriander, kale, seedlings, sow, spring

Despite a very dry period that has sent me down there watering frequently, everything is going very well on the lottie. I think in fact the frequent watering has made me succeed better with the seeds than in previous years, obviously something I was not doing properly last time. The carrots are actually growing!!!! yay! And so are the radishes! In a few days I will actually be able to eat my own radish, something that has usually always failed.
Spring onions - tried two different things, growing in pots then pricking out and direct sowing. Well this year, both methods seem to be working! :-S how bizarre, I have never succeeded them before.
Potatoes - all are coming up very well. great. I will be eating those Ratte potatoes before I know it.
Now will come the hard work, digging the ground for the melons, Three Sisters and tomatoes. I am also hoping for rain as it is pretty dry out there...

Now, indoors, many things are working well, except the peppers and aubergines! They are looking yellowing and sickly! Tonight I will repot them into new pots, with new home made potting mix and see if that makes a difference. Otherwise, the tomatoes, corn and squashes are going great guns.

Labels: carrots, onions, potato, seedlings, spring

I am still going on with the pricking out. Today I transferred about 20 tomato plants - there are still a fair few to do. Ideally I want to plant out about 5 rows of 6 plants, so I need about 30 plants. As I have about 6 varieties (Marmande beefsteak, Totem, Moneymaker, Pannovy and Harzfeuer salads, gardener's delight cocktail tomatoes and large yellow beefsteaks), there should be a few of each and the spares I give to friends.
The corn has come up, now just have to make sure the household feline doesn't snack on it, and I am still waiting for the courgettes and melons to come up. At the end of the week, I will start sowing the pumpkins, last home strait!!

Labels: corn, seedlings, spring, tomatoes

And on the windowsill, more continues.
There are now several pepper and aubergine plants growing, and the leeks are doing well.
There was a minor disaster - my little girl knocked over the cabbage tray. I was beside myself but I managed to tangle out the seedlings and prick them out into a new tray where funnily enough they seem to be doing well! I must sow some more cauli though, only 3 survived that misadventure. The red cabbage and broccoli are doing quite well though.
I sowed the first lot of tomatoes - I will do some more, as I have plenty of seeds and I like to give them away to friends, also we will be having a swop at our lot soon so that could be good things to swop.
I sowed several of:

• Gardener's Delight "Bright red, bite-size, extra sweet fruits are full of flavor."
• Pannovy "High quality round fruit, Good flavour"
• Moneymaker (29p from Lidl, couldn't resist) "An extremely popular variety. Produces firm red fruit of medium size. Tall, vigorous growing and heavy cropping."
• Marmande "a classic beefsteak variety which produces the large, ribbed tomatoes that are commonly seen in the Continent. "
• Tigerella - I grew these last year and they are quite good, red with yellowish stripes, smallish fruit but sweet and firm, although the skin is a bit tough esp if you cook them, lovely in a salad though.
• Totem "A dwarf stocky bush variety, both early and heavy yielding, with large trusses of crimson tomatoes produced low down on the stem. "

I still have plenty of Money Maker, Gardener's delight, Tigerella and Marmande seeds so I will sow some more of those, although I find they keep from year to year no problem.

Labels: aubergine, cabbage, peppers, seedlings, sow, spring, tomatoes

That is what my allotment site will celebrate on may 29, 30 years of our gardeners' association. So I will no doubt be serving chips and coke on that day and trying to swop some of my plants for some one else's as we have a plant swop organised.
On Saturday when I went to the meeting for that, I had a peep at teh lot and behold, my little cold frame had been pilfered! The showerscreen that I had carefully hoarded for it had been pinched, leaving my seeds open to the elements. I was pretty pissed off. especially as I had to try and cover it all up with some plastic in the wind and drizzle. The plastic will probably have blown away next time I go down :(
Still, in better news, the windowsill is doing well, with the leeks, brassicas, aubergines and peppers all sprouting. Tomatoes this weekend!
UPDATE - I actually found the showerscreen, it had been blown away by the wind !! SO now it is better harnessed down.

Labels: burglery, seedlings, shit_happens, winter

I have been looking at my old blog posts from this period last year and realise that at the same period I had done a hell of a lot! Much more than this year! And yet curiously enough the garden seems tidier. Maybe this is because of the very harsh winter we have had which killed off so much "dead wood", leaving the allotment quite desolate. Anyway I welcome it because it means that the weeds have not had time to take a hold, I will have a little more time to get the first planting in then concentrate on the tidying and preparation of the rest.
Yesterday I went down. Firstly the visit was dampened by the sobering news that one of the neighbours had passed away. One of the "old boys", his mates will be saddened to see someone else gardening his plot later in the spring.
Despite this, I did some work, a bit of pruning and tidying, more manure spreading (it's a long process!) and my masterpiece, I finally got around to building the elusive coldframe! Just a few tiles and an old showerscreen but it looks sturdy enough! I am so proud of it, and plan to keep surrounding it with covered pots etc to grow more things outside, as I feel the seedlings do better that way, they are hardy and vigorous. I am just hopeless at hardening off when I grow inside so best just to do most outdoors, except the real tenders of course. I will use it to seed brassicas, lettuce, beetroot (I will try two methods this year, in place and via seedlings as I am always disappointed with my crop), sweetcorn, herbs, flowers, maybe even spring onion.

Labels: seedlings, winter

I am still trying to clean up the lot which has gone mad after quite an April that alternated showers with bright sunshine and warm weather. There are dandelions everywhere and lots of annoying grass. So over the next couple of weeks, I will have to take a pickaxe to it all and rip up all the unwanted vegetation (as usual).
Yesterday I had quite a useful session (and I have the aches and pains to prove it). I got stuck into the compost pile, which now has a big load of ready compost in the bottom: the challeng is getting it out, as it is enclosed in a wooden box. I got out a few bucketfuls and then (with the help of the fork) about half a wheelbarrow full which wasn't too bad for my first effort. I used that to topdress the fruit patch and the garlic and echalotes, and to incorporate into the patch I was just sowing, with carrots, parsnips, radishes, rocket and beetroot. I hope it will enrich the soil for me. It also went on the patch of new lettuces I planted out and was then spread over the existing peas and broad beans and dug into the second pea bed that I sowed yesterday. Some of the lot is still a mess but the rest is starting to look planted: spuds are being earthed up, which makes them look important I always feel, the onions are above ground so that patch looks alive too.
At home, the cat started nibbling the chilli plants (stupid animal) so I have had to make a makeshift greenhouse with a plastic sheet. The plants are going great guns under it! The tomatoes are growing steadily and the peppers, courgettes and aubergines will really have to go out next weekend, they are getting too big for indoors. Next week, warm weather is predicted, over 18 deg so I think they will cope well with the change then. Which means I must quickly get some manure, to bury under the black plastic: I am planting all the tender plants on plastic this year, it saves an awful lot of weeding. I have also noticed that when patches are covered, the next year they get less weeds: could they be protected from seeds too?
thank you to Chris who gave me some pumpkin plants! I have LOTS of pumpkin and squash this year, it's among our favourite foods, so that seems a good idea. I have sowed some Australian squash (pattypans), and pumpkins, and also green and yellow courgettes.With my sweetcorn (special for cool climates), and some more Coco de Paimpol shelly beans, a wonderful Three Sisters bed should rise out of the ashes of last year's spud bed!!

Labels: beetroot, carrots, compost, parsnip, pumpkin, radish, seedlings, spring

Recent wet weather and various family commitments stopped me from working in the lottie for the last couple of weeks. Big mistake. The rain has transformed everything into a jungle.
I struggled, I suspect to the amusement of my neighbours, to remove the kale cabbage that was now bigger than me. I ripped out a wheelbarrow load of weeds, mostly dandelions, in a desperate attempt to make it look decent.
I then proceeded to plant the potatoes, a bit later than usual but the new potatoes are already a few centimetres high! I planted about 50 or 60 plants, I was knackered.
I must hurry and do a carrot and parsnip bed, and plant out some lettuce which are growing. I will have to start the broccoli and sprouts at home, they have been eaten by bloody snails.
At home the tomatoes, aubergines, courgettes and sweetcorn are doing well. A big plant out in May is on the cards.
I was rewarded with my first crop of rhubarb, and some lovely chives and self-seeded corander that is popping up here and there. The garlic and onions are going great guns so now I just have to...dig!

Labels: potato, seedlings, spring

Today the muscles are asking me why I decided to plant the last of the onions and the rest of the early spuds on the same day! Because it's spring and beautiful weather! so we'll just have to put up with the stiff thighs.
The rest of the early spuds went in, I seem to have caluclated just right, a whole bed will be given over to spuds this year. And another is wholly alliums, garlic, shallots, yellow and red onions. The first onions and shallots have started to send up their little green shoots so I am hoping that the harvest will be good.
I love growing onions and potatoes, it's easy and pretty satisfying, I love it when you harvest the potatoes. They look so dead on the surface and then underneath all those lovely fresh little spuds just waiting to go in the pot!
Also on Saturday morning (with the help of my friend Sophie, gardening for the first time ever!) we pulled up the old cabbages and sprouts, dug up the rest of the leeks (they will be chopped and frozen tonight) and harvested the purple sprouting broccoli! A strange experience that, it was the first time I had ever eaten it. You don't get much but it tasted good. I also sowed the broccoli, sprouts and some spring lettuce and cloched them, in a little seed bed.
The plot is still quite grassy and untidy but it now looks much more worked over, with the onion bed full and the spud corner all turned over. It has a nice spring feel at the moment: rhubarb getting taller, peas and broad beans coming up out of the ground, the berries getting their leaves, lovely mauve flowers on the rosemary.
What are the next jobs to be done? So far I have stuck pretty well to what I wanted to achieve. Next week, must get in some more horse manure, start making piles for the summer squash and mulching the potatoes, I must also sow some more carrots and beetroot (the first lot of seed has failed), weed the flower section and put in some seed for the summer, and tend to the indoors stuff (sowing the tomatoes and leeks, it's time, pricking out the chilli peppers and eggplants/aubergines).

Labels: onions, potato, red onion, seedlings, spring

Yep, it is a sure sign of spring when you start planting the spuds. Despite Raymond my nice neighbour tutting and muttering about frost, 2 rows of earlies "Anoe" variety went in on Saturday morning, along with a row of early peas, some carrots (Nantaise2), radishes and beetroots. It was a glorious day, I worked up quite a sweat, digging up the ground. I am hoping that the warm sun will help give the seeds a boost.
The rest of the spuds are quietly chitting. The seedlings are being very quiet, perhaps it is still a bit chilly for them, even on the window sill?
Down at the lottie there is heaps to be done though, a lot of edging needs redoing, I think some of my plot is attempting to join that of my neighbour. The old cabbages needs pulling out, the ground needs digging over, manured and covered for the summer tenders and I would really like to cover around the fruit bushes with thick cardboard and cover that with manure, to slowly feed them all summer that way and have a good mulch too, because they are badly overgrown with grass but digging it out means 1) I get ripped to pieces and 2) possibly damaging the shallow roots of the raspberry canes. So I would like to attack the weeds differently.
So much to do, but the longer days have started and the sun is warmer day by day, which cheers the heart and makes digging seem like more of a pleasure and less of a chore.

Labels: beetroot, carrots, digging, peas, potato, seedlings

Well I saw the first signs of life in the first seedlings this morning. The hot peppers in fact, speedy little blighters.
But what is sprouting most are the early potatoes, chitting in the pantry. So I had best plant a few of those this weekend. The weather here is lovely, and I am sure that the ground will have heated up a bit this week, in full sun. So this weekend: first potatoes, first peas, first carrots and first beetroots. If I am that keen...

Labels: potato, seedlings, winter

Well I thought I would give a quick seedling update. Everything is going great guns, especially the tomatoes, which is really terrific. I can see a magnificent tomato area shaping up this summer!!
The sweetcorn has just raised its first shoots, good news and finally the courgettes, melons and pumpkins are coming through, Of course they tend to grow about 5 or 10 cm a day!! which is a bit tricky...I am not quite sure yet how to deal with that one.
And all the other things that I am growing in pots for the first time seem to be doing very well: red cabbage, rainbow chard, flowers. The only thing that is slow is the brussel sprouts. Oh well, if they don't work out, I will get plug plants, I don't mind doing that when there are only a few items liek sprouts.
I will try and get some pics of all the little seedlings, they look so cute and tidy! quite unlike the plot which is probably in quite a state afetr about a week's solid rain. I do hope I don't get any rot problems with the onions???

Labels: rain, seedlings, spring

My God, the things we do for our baby plants!
I felt as nervous as Christiaan Barnard last night, I decided to transplant my seedlings into little pots so armed with loads of plastic pots and a bag of potting mix, I put some paper on the kitchen table and got to it. It took me over two hours!!! It was like bloody open heart surgery! And there were a few deaths along the way...
I managed to transplant....wait for it...
15 Marmande big fleshy tomato plants
about 8 Gartenperle cherry tomatoes (I think one or two might get given away of those)
about 8 Harzfeuer small round tomato plants
3 sweet peppers (I fear I might end up buying plants for those, I can't seem to get them to germinate properly)
about 15 other tomato seedlings of indeterminate type (I think they are Marmandes, I forgot to label them :-S anyway they are doing quite poorly compared to the others which are very vigorous, so I tried changing them around in a new pot with fresh potting mix.
about 12 small orange French Marigolds, to plant with the tomatoes,
and about 60 leeks. That was very tricky, I experimented with a way of thinning them, don't know if it will work. I lay the pot on its side, and put down a layer of soil then lay down the seedlings, then another layer of soil, them more seedlings. It isn't perfect but I couldn't see how to transplant them otherwise...
There is still a pot of about 40 leeks to do!!! Arrrgh!
I also started off 3 Jap pumpkins, just because I had soil in the pots.
I still need to do some more next week, I will start off the pumpkins, courgettes and melons and the sweetcorn, some basil (can't get that going outside) and sow some Sweet William flowers in modules.
Still for now I am quite pleased with how it is progressing even if I now have pot plants all over the bloody house!!
Oh and I caved in at Lidl yesterday and bought another packet of yellow dwarf beans, I love them, and a small blackcurrant plant! for 5 euros it seemed a bargain. It can go in next to the strawberries. Dunno if it will fruit this year, well I guess you only add blackcurrant to other dishes anyway, they are a bit acidic to eat by themselves. Wonder if I could get enough to make some liqueur??? yum yum

Labels: flowers, leeks, peppers, pricking_out, pumpkin, seedlings, spring, tomatoes

Just a wee update on the seedlings.
The tomatoes are going great guns, quite tall but once I pot them on they will do well.
Once again the lettuce is terrifically tall! I don't know what to do about it, maybe indoors is too hot for it?? Again, maybe potting on will do the trick.
I was starting to despair for the sweet peppers but I moved them nearer to the radiator and last night noticed a little bump under the soil so I think they are just coming up now.
The first leeks are now about 7 cm tall and the second lot are just rearing their heads.
Also good germination on the brussel sprouts, the rhubarb chard (red silverbeet I would say) and my dwarf marigolds are looking splendid. I couldn't get them to come up in direct sowing last year but maybe this is the wayto do it. I want to use them as companion plants to the tomatoes.
I am hoping that some of these bits and bobs will be ready for a cold frame by the time I need to sow the courgettes and squash otherwise the windowsills are going to be under great strain!

Labels: chard, leeks, lettuce, seedlings, spring, sprouts, tomatoes

Back at home, safely in from the wind and rain, I set to work on some more seed sowing.
The seeds from last week are starting to show signs of life - I can see a few leeks popping up in the pot. So time to sow some more...
Last night I set out:

• more tomatoes (Marmande and Harzfeuer), oh interesting info about this tomato variety, Harzfeuer, that I got from Lidl for next to nothing... "(69 days) Amazing selection from from Germany. Dependable, disease resistant, beautiful and flavorful, it produces huge clusters of fruit. A hybrid Hellfrucht type tomato that translates to "Resin Fire" in english. Fruits weight 3 to 4 ounces and are a highly popular variety for market or home in Europe. Determinate." Hmm 3 to 4 ounces, so medium sized fruit of about 150 g. 69 days - is that from sowing to harvest I wonder? that doesn't seem long enough... that's 10 weeks. If they are sown now that means tomatoes in June...surely not?
  
• red swiss chard, called rhubarb chard,
• another tray of leeks (De Carentan winter variety),
• the first Brussel sprouts (Sanda variety, harvest starts in September it says),
• spring Batavia type lettuce (looks more or less like this...),
• and a tray of red and yellow dwarf marigolds (these are said to be useful planted throughout the veg garden to repel some pests, oh well they look pretty at any rate...).

I guess that is the last lot of sowing now until it is time to do the melons, squash and corn.
Also put out the second lot of potatoes (Bernadette, second earlies) to chit. Up on the high shelves in the pantry seems to be a good spot - not too warm and filtered light. The earlies had developed nice solid sprouting bits, perhaps a little long on some of them but they seemed firmly attached.They will go in the ground in a week's time, Easter Monday with a bit of luck.

Labels: chard, flowers, leeks, potato, seedlings, sow, tomatoes, winter

OK the weather was not really clement enough to get down the allotment this weekend so I took the plunge and started off some seeds!
I have sowed:

• about a dozen Harzfeuer tomatoes (small bunch type),
• about a dozen Gartenperle cherry tomatoes,
• about 10 sweet pepper seeds, Canape type (from Alan Romans),
• a pot full of De Carentan winter leeks.

So I will keep up to date on their progress. they are on the windowsill in the pantry where it is quite cool, I suppose it is about 18 degrees in there and they are behind frosted glass. If it seems too cool, I will move them into the kitchen but I didn't want them to get leggy too quickly.

Labels: leeks, peppers, seedlings, sow, tomatoes, winter

Someone on A4A posted a brilliant link to a site that has a seed planting guide that works in relation to your last frost free date in your area.
http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-5-19-212,00.html
Being a bit of a clever dick, I pasted it onto Excel and set up some calculations so I could see exactly when I need to be sowing my seeds!!
Hmm what will happen if I paste that in here??? Bugger, I have had to swap it from Excel to HTML to bloody stupid Word, but it has finally worked it seems. I didn't actually know exactly the last frost free date here, I know that generally in May here it is warming up so, hopefully this will be OK:

The Spring Frost-Free Date in My Garden is 01/05/2008

CROP	WHEN TO START INSIDE	DAYS FROM SOWING	SAFE TO SET OUT TIME (RELATIVE TO FROST-FREE DATE)	SETTING OUT DATE
Basil	27/03/2008	42	1 week after	08/05/2008
Beets*	13/03/2008	35	2 weeks before	17/04/2008
Broccoli	13/03/2008	35	2 weeks before	17/04/2008
Cabbage	28/02/2008	35	4 weeks before	03/04/2008
Cauliflower	13/03/2008	35	2 weeks before	17/04/2008
Collards	28/02/2008	35	4 weeks before	03/04/2008
Corn*	17/04/2008	21	0 to 2 weeks after	08/05/2008
Cucumber	17/04/2008	21	1 to 2 weeks after	08/05/2008
Eggplant	12/03/2008	64	2 to 3 weeks after	15/05/2008
Kale	28/02/2008	35	4 weeks before	03/04/2008
Kohlrabi*	28/02/2008	35	4 weeks before	03/04/2008
Lettuce	06/03/2008	28	3 to 4 weeks before	03/04/2008
Melons	24/04/2008	21	2 weeks after	15/05/2008
Mustard*	28/02/2008	35	4 weeks before	03/04/2008
Okra*	10/04/2008	35	2 to 4 weeks after	15/05/2008
Onions	14/02/2008	49	4 weeks before	03/04/2008
Parsley	13/02/2008	64	2 to 3 weeks before	17/04/2008
Peas*	23/02/2008	21	6 to 8 weeks before	15/03/2008
Peppers	06/03/2008	70	2 weeks after	15/05/2008
Pumpkins	24/04/2008	21	2 weeks after	15/05/2008
Spinach	28/02/2008	35	3 to 6 weeks before	03/04/2008
Squash	24/04/2008	21	2 weeks after	15/05/2008
Swiss chard	13/03/2008	35	2 weeks before	17/04/2008
Tomatoes	27/03/2008	49	1 to 2 weeks after	15/05/2008
* These crops are usually direct-seeded outdoors, but they can be started inside.

To be fair I don't plant all of these and I always start beets and spinach off directly in place, but I guess that in that case it will give me the approximate sowing times under cover?? I think it is quite a clever system, and will be a big help. Except I can see that once again the house will be invaded with loads of small pots and trays, driving the OH up the wall. He hates gardening stuff. Maybe I can persuade him to buy me one of those balcony greenhouses made of a shelf covered in plastic, then I can stick it outside the window and save some space.
I looked again at the seed catalogue and I was right, the DT Brown seeds site is considerably cheaper for a number of items, especially the beans and peas which are almost half the price in comparison with Willemse!! And already Willemse was cheaper than many of the seeds I saw in garden centres last year... So I think I shall buy the seeds from the UK and only buy the spuds and onion sets here.

Labels: planning, planting, seedlings, winter

Seedling update!
The tomato plants are outside and are itching to go in the ground. There is also a melon plant (rockmelon, or cantaloupe, whatever, a charentais) and several more gherkins.
There are a few lettuce that really should be planted out but I think that from now on I will sow lettuce seed straight in the ground. On the whole, seedlings are a failure (note for next year!).
Sweet pepper doing well - there are about a dozen seedlings that I need to transplant to decent sized pots.
My Qld Blue pumpkins are starting to show! I am so proud!
My Brussels Sprout seeds have sprouted into cute seedlings. They have funny rounded leaves. I have never grown cabbagey type things before, this will be an interesting experience.
Need to go get some potting mix from the allotment as I have 25 MoneyMaker tomato seeds to pot (trying a later harvest of those...) and I want to try potting some flowers both for the garden and the balcony.
Now I see that the seeds are so easy to do, I think I will pot up a few and give them away to some friends with gardens.

Labels: seedlings, seeds