Seed Sowing!

At last! The day is here! I've been itching to get starting with this season's seeds since, ooooh, about the second of January, but there's really not much point starting that early and seedlings grown when days are short can end up leggy and weak. Instead, I've taken on board a tip from veg-growing guru Charles Dowding, who advises waiting until there are ten hours of daylight each day before sowing seeds. This happens in mid February, and I've certainly noticed the evenings lengthening these last two weeks so hopefully it will make all the difference.

I like a good clear rule like this - it means no umming and aahing about whether or not it's the right time, no 'well I'll do a few now and a few later and see if there's any difference', no worrying.

Setting myself a clear day to get started - and making it a bit later than perhaps I'd like - has also meant I was far more organised than usual beforehand. I'd cleaned and tested the electric propagator in advance. I'd sorted out all my pots, and I've got a big bag of surplus ready to give away. I'd even written out my plant labels - I usually put the seeds in first then find myself writing labels with grubby fingers while trying to remember which pot's which - not clever!

I've also written up a sowing and planting plan for the whole year, which I'll use to keep records of the dates I actually sow as well. I can see at-a-glance what needs to be sown and where each month, so there'll be no forgetting things or puzzling over when to sow things for winter. I'm sure it'll get tweaked a bit along the way, but you can see it here if you like.

I sow all my seeds in peat-free compost - usually New Horizon organic peat-free. Peat-free seems to have a bad rap in the press - they'll tell you it's not suitable for seed-sowing, or that you have to sieve it and add vermiculite and water more, as if it's somehow more complex or more dangerous - but I've never, ever had any trouble with it; it's really very good stuff. And digging up peat is destructive, unsustainable, and totally unnecessary.

So here they all are. Tucked up in the electric propagator are three sweet peppers (Marconi Rossa, Lipstick and Kaibi Round), three chillies (Ancho Grande, Jalapeno and Big Jim Numex), and one aubergine (Bonica F1). They all need a bit of extra warmth to germinate well, so the electric propagator is really helpful, and I hope to be able to pot them up just in time to sow my tomatoes in the same propagator sometime around mid-March. On the windowsill are cape gooseberries, two pots of leeks (Autumn Giant Porvite and Lyon 2 Prizetaker) and some celeriac (Monarch). I've sown these things first as they are all slow-growing crops that need an early start in order to crop in good time, or to reach a good size.

Hooray! Getting these seeds started is a really good feeling and makes the spring feel that much closer. There's nothing else quite like the promise of big beautiful plants and tasty harvests just from putting a seed in the soil.

Patience...

Despite having a long list of jobs I need to get done before the growing season starts again, very little is happening on the plot at the moment; a week or two of bitterly cold and wet weather has made digging unpleasant at best and impossible at worst. I wouldn't mind so much if it would just snow properly, like it has in much of the country, and make the place look pretty for a while! But all we've had is yucky icy sleet and lots of rain.

I've also been very busy with preparations for our first FoodSmiles AGM last week, and the FoodSmiles seed order this week! If you think figuring out what to grow on your own allotment can take a while, try figuring out what you need for a giant veg plot for 25 families using strictly organic seed only!

There's still plenty to harvest from the allotment and this week we brought home these carrots, leeks, parsnips and the last two (very small!) swedes.

We have made some progress on what is to be our new 'alternative' fruit patch, shown above. It's always been a tough corner of the allotment, this, and the couchgrass has really colonised it again, so we've dug it over once and we're halfway through a second go to pick out remaining roots. I was hoping to finish it off tomorrow and start planting it up, but if the weather is as cold as forecast I won't even be able to get a fork in the ground, and we'll have to settle for a trip to the garden centre instead - I think I have finally sated my seed-buying urge now, but there are still seed potatoes and compost to buy. Now it's February I'll be counting down the days to sowing my first seeds in the middle of the month... Better get the propagator out and clean up some pots!

Spring is in the air...

There's no doubt about it - spring is definitely in the air. The birds are singing, the sun is shining, flowers are popping up all over the place and everything is starting to grow again.

It's nice to see the sorrel and chives sprouting fresh new growth.

 

I know some people are harvesting purple sprouting broccoli by now, but mine still isn't showing any signs. Maybe it didn't get big enough before the winter. I wait with bated breath...

The lamb's lettuce is big enough to eat now, at last. This definitely needs an earlier start next year - and more of it too!

The radishes in the greenhouse haven't done anything worthwhile and are starting to look a bit sickly, but the spring onions have put on excellent growth over winter and are about ready to eat.

The claytonia has been going steady all winter long - I've picked handfuls from time to time, but I could (should) have eaten much more of it! In fact, I think I'd better thin this lot before the kale gets swamped!

The perpetual spinach, too, has kept producing slowly all winter, and I've picked the odd handful to add to veg dishes. The normal spinach did not do so well - something killed all but two of the plants! Next winter I'll make sure I have lots more perpetual spinach and chard going, since they stand so well through cold weather.

Like most gardeners, I'm chomping at the bit to start sowing again. I've already started a few potatoes - three 'Foremost' earlies - in a planter in the shelter of the house. I wouldn't plant them in open soil this early, but in dry fresh compost in a well-drained portable container it's another matter. The right temperature for planting spuds is about 8C, and most of our nights are 7 or higher at the moment, so as long as I protect them if we have another cold snap I reckon we're in with a good chance of a few super-earlies!

I bought six of these huge fold-away planters to use this year, thinking it'd be tidier than hoardes and hoardes of pots, the soil would be deeper, and I could plant lots of things closer together, rather than all in individual containers. The huge bags don't half hold a lot of soil! I don't know how I'm going to fill them all! In the first one I have planted my nine (one went mouldy in the greenhouse during the snow) everbearing 'Albion' strawberries, plus three which were too cramped in a pot in the garden. There's another planter ready and waiting in the background for some early carrots, lettuce, radishes and things, which I'll sow soon under a protective layer or two of fleece...

Oh, and my leek seedlings are doing well. They looked a bit frazzled today because I accidentally left them out in the cold last night, which must have come as a bit of a shock, but they'll recover, and I'm glad they got this head-start.

Can't wait to get stuck into some more sowing...

Happy New Year!

Did everyone have a good festive season? I did! And there were even some gardening- and foraging- related pressies:

A heated propagator....

Some great books...

And a beautiful bay tree!

Not to mention a brewing kit and some nice foodie gifts too - more on them another day!

Now I'm not really one to take new year's resolutions too seriously (does anyone?) - I mean, I want to lose a few pounds most of the time anyway, and if there's a change that needs making in my life it probably needs making right away, so why wait around til new year to do it? But the rhythm of the growing season leaves us a natural pause in which to look back at the year that's passed and think about what we might do differently, so, as well as, you know, weeding more and visiting the plot more and stuff like that which goes without saying, I've got a few specific gardening resolutions for the coming year too...

1) Use more fabric on the plot. You know; weed-proof fabric, fleece - that sort of thing. I've never wanted to spend the money before but I've come to realise it'd be a pretty decent investment to protect crops better from frost and to get our paths and a few other areas grass-free once and for all.

2) Make more of an effort to enter the allotment association's summer show. Not that I'm competitive, but having finally gotten more involved in the association this year, I don't think I'd be doing my bit if I didn't support the event better, and, well, I don't want to embarrass myself, do I?

3) Start sowing earlier - and sow for winter at the correct time! Yes, the eagle-eyed among you will have spotted that I've already sown some seeds in my propagator - I did it today. My peppers took soooooo long to come to maturity and start producing last year, it can't possibly hurt to try some super-early ones this time round, and the propagator will help them along too. I've also sown my leek seeds, since I can never seem to get them to a decent size before planting out.

What do you plan to do differently in the garden this year?

Winter Sowing

Okay, I really should have done this at least a month ago, but I was behind as usual and the weather's still so nice... It can't be too late yet, can it? Not if the volunteer salad plants I keep finding all over the garden are anything to go by. I've got claytonia in the seed-grown rosemary I gave up on and forgot about...

...and I've got rocket (or is it mizuna?) in my broccoli.

In fact, there are a lot of leafy greens that will grow over winter with a bit of shelter, and with night temperatures still not dropping below 8 or 9 here (with just one exception last week), a new cover on my plastic greenhouse, a quick study of Charles Dowding's great book 'Salad Leaves for All Seasons', and a sowing-spree in the sunshine on Monday, I have high hopes for at least a few overwinter greens this year. I've sown two types of spring onions, 'Winter Gem' lettuces, claytonia (love the stuff!), lamb's lettuce/corn salad, 'Bright Lights' radishes and some 'Nero di Toscana' kale (similar to the popular narrow-leaved 'Cavolo Nero'). They're outside hopefully being warmed by the sunshine for now, but if and when it turns cold they'll go straight in the greenhouse. Oh, and I've got some spinach and perpetual spinach going too, which I started some weeks ago, and of course the leeks and parsnips on the allotment, and some purple-sprouting broccoli and curly kale in tubs. With a bit of luck and care, this could just be my most productive winter yet...

Today we finally got round to sowing some winter turnips on the plot as well, and scattered the ex-potato beds with some out-of-date Phacelia seeds (fingers crossed...) to protect the soil over winter and provide some extra organic matter to dig into the soil in the spring. My mail-order onions, shallots and garlic haven't come yet, but I'm ready for them when they do.

And as a testament to how mild the weather still is, here's a very late-flowering feverfew I spotted poking up through my patio yesterday! Good job there are still flowers about - there are certainly still plenty of bees and butterflies enjoying them!

Allotment Update

Despite being way ahead of ourselves earlier in the season, it's a real struggle keeping up with things at the allotment at this time of year and we've got the usual mix of good and bad going on.

Good: the potatoes are doing well, and ready to be earthed up just as soon as I pluck all the bindweed out.

Good: I've planted the leeks out. 12 Autumn Giant, 12 Malabar F1 and 12 Musselburgh. These were sown in seed trays in late February.

We plant them in a grid, pushing a 6" deep hole in the soil using the end of a hoe, dropping the baby leek in and watering well. I do think some of them were still a bit small really, so fingers crossed they're not too swamped! I'm keeping the extra seedlings on standby just in case.

Bad: the spinach has gone to seed in the warm, dry weather, and I barely got to harvest any! Boooooo.

The chard is finished too, and will need clearing a.s.a.p. to make room for a new lot.

Good: the broad beans are thriving and flowering away. As always, please ignore the carpet of weeds...

The two lefthand rows are Aquadulce, the two righthand rows are Bunyards Exhibition. I know which one I'm growing next year!

Good: We've weeded the asparagus (again) and planted out the petunias (reputed to keep away the dreaded asparagus beetle).

Bad: the asparagus beetles are really going for it this year and causing serious damage. Some of this could be slug/snail damage too. I've never seen anything like this - the whole tips are gone!

Good: we've netted the strawberries, adopting a much simpler system than the rickety frame we constructed last year!

The net is simply draped over a few canes topped with plastic bottles, and weighed down round the edges with stones tied into the netting.

Good: I've direct-sown runner beans (Polestar) round the feet of four obelisks, and a few rows of French beans (Delinel) in front. Eddie's grandparents kindly sent us a few runner bean plants back at Eastertime, too. They've been getting a bit stressed and lanky in their little pots and will take some settling in, but they're out there now and will hopefully give us a small early crop!

Bad: we still have to finish digging the brassica patch and the three squash patches! The weeds have really taken over since last growing season and the soil is very hard and dry because of the weather we've been having, so progress is slow. I'd hoped to have cleared the paths and got some weed-proof membrane down on them by this time too, but I guess that can wait til everything else is sorted.

Home Garden Tour

I took advantage of a couple of free days last week to get lots of things sorted in the garden. I planted out the tomatoes and peppers and gave the rest of the potted plants a bit of TLC and a tidy up.

As you know, I share a garden with my parents, and their ideas on gardening and mine are not really the same... So I try to keep my pots under control and squeeze them into as small a corner as I can! This is our little bit of patio:

On the lefthand side of the door is our 'herb garden', with flat-leaf parsley, curly parsley, basil, thai basil, red basil, sage, oregano, thyme, rosemary, chives, garlic chives, and some rather sickly and pot-bound lovage. Ooh, and a jalapeno pepper.

And on the right of the door, our salad bar!

Here we have, at the back, 'pizzo' mustard, mizuna, and little gem lettuce, and at the front, the last of our winter gems, purslane, the much more vigorous and highly recommended winter purslane (aka claytonia, aka miner's lettuce), chervil (not going down too well as a salad leaf, with its thin dry texture and aniseed flavour, but I think I'll try cutting and drying some to use as a herb), spring onions, and saltwort.

The saltwort's a funny thing. It's not at all salty - I wonder if I'm supposed to give it salt, as with samphire... And the plants are very small, with rather insubstantial narrow leaves. A quick bit of research shows that I'm supposed to pick the whole plant at once. Doh! I should have sown LOADS more!

Here are our tomatoes, planted out in their growbags. I've been a bit daring and planted six to a bag instead of the recommended three. As I've said before, these 'Angelle' plants are not very vigorous or leafy, so I think they'll get on fine like this.

And here are our peppers - four in a big trough, and four in individual pots, dotted around the place.

Some sorrel, grown from seed this spring, and French tarragon, bought from the garden centre on Saturday!

A lone strawberry plant, 'Eau de Cologne' mint, cat mint, and our 'Hundreds and Thousands' tomato plant (from saved seed). There's also a 'Sub-Arctic Plenty' tomato hiding in the background.

Wedged next to the bike shed is our potted courgette plant, some feverfew, and another pepper, with a growbag stuffed down the back and supports ready for our cucumber plants...

But the cucumbers have to get a bit bigger first - and I'm crossing my fingers they even get that far! A villainous mollusc climbed right to the top of our greenhouse to get at this one the other night:

Luckily the growing tip doesn't seem to be damaged, so hopefully it'll make a full recovery.

And on top of the shed are our leek and brassica seedlings and some back-up tomatoes! I'm wondering if I can keep them long enough for a late-season crop, or if they'll get too pot-bound while they wait...

I've been a bit anxious about the leek seedlings. Despite a late Feb sowing and a couple of doses of feed, they still seem so tiny! But I put a ruler to them today and actually, most of them are about six inches now - big enough to be planted out. I'll try to do that today...

Elsewhere in the garden we've got another tub of strawberries, a little behind compared to the ones on the allotment...

...and a column of mangetout! There are two varieties here; a golden-podded one and a giant-podded one! They seem to be struggling a bit to climb, but they're getting there.

Next to the greenhouse, our French beans are doing pretty well. (Why is it the ones in the corners are always smaller?)

And inside the greenhouse we have a couple of spare peppers and tomatoes, all our squashes waiting to be planted out, and a tray of pea-shoots.

Gosh! I've been starting to wonder if we still really need the allotment, with all this going on! Then I remember that without it, we wouldn't have room for potatoes, onions, leeks, root veg, brassicas, and my beloved pumpkins and winter squashes. We've been busy there over the weekend too, but I think that's enough for today. Allotment round-up tomorrow!

First Sowings

I know, I know, I'm way behind. The good news is MOST of the things I'm about to tell you about were actually sown a few weeks ago - I just haven't had the time to tell you about it yet.

First, leeks. The past few years I've bought leek seedlings, because of some early catastrophic failures, but this year I decided to grow them from seed again and I'm pleased to report that so far, it's going well.

I've got three varieties on the go for maximum chances of success; Autumn Giant 3, Malabar, and Musselburgh. In the background above you may also be able to make out some very tiny Winter Gem lettuces.

This year I'm growing mostly Angelle tomatoes from the seeds I saved from a supermarket tomato last year. The plants are really compact (straight up, few leaves, not much support needed) so I figured I could grow a lot in a small space. However, they've been rather sickly from the word go and a lot have 'damped off', so now I only have half as many! I'm planning another sowing tomorrow...

I've sown a couple of Hundreds and Thousands (from saved seeds) and Sub Arctic Plenty too, and they're doing fine...

As always, I'm having terrible trouble geting any peppers to germinate - I just don't know what I'm doing wrong! The Jalapenos are okay...

...but my King of the North green peppers, Dedo de Mocha Sweet Aji peepers (smoky flavoured but heat-free, the packet says!), Kaibi no 2 sweet red peppers and Doux Tres Long Des Landes long sweet peppers are showing few signs of life (twenty seeds, one shoot so far...). Perhaps I'll have to invest in one of those heated propogator things after all... Anyone recommend one?

We've been busy sowing on the plot as well, with four rows of broad beans (Bunyards Exhibition and Aquadulce) just about ready to pop up I reckon. In our two raised beds, I've sown a mass of salady veg. In one, French Breakfast radishes, Giant Radishes, Boltardy beetroots, and assorted carrot seeds. (Am I the only one that accumulates bazillions of half-packets of carrot seeds, then still buys new ones each year just in case the old ones don't work? Well this year all the old ones have gone in, all mixed up, and even if half of them don't work I'll still have PLENTY of carrots.) In the other, three varieties of spinach, Bull's Blood beetroot (for leaves), land cress and some Little Gems. These are the beds the foxes like to dig in for some unknown reason, so we finished the job by covering one bed with a spare piece of plastic mesh, and the other one (rather hopefully) with zigzags of string. Fingers crossed...