LL's Gardening Diary

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lancashire lass
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Re: LL's 2013 GYO Diary

Post by lancashire lass »

billnorfolk wrote:.I chit my sweetcorn and runner beans in that method ,put damp kitchen towel in an ice cream container and put in airing cupboard for a couple of days,at least you can then pick out any that dont shoot.


Normally I don't "chit" seeds as it tends to be an extra task to have to do, and fortunately I've been okay with sweetcorn. Beans - I sow them direct when it gets warmer but usually several at a time to a planting hole and there's usually something comes up LOL

I was a bit late going to the allotment this morning as I didn't really want to go out, but now wish I had gone earlier. With several days of dry weather, the soil was so different and easy to turn over. I had a couple of week's worth of compostables from work so I managed to bury them in the squash bed but now I'm thinking of turning my attention to the bean and pea beds and making some mini trenches. I should have done this earlier in the year but the beds had been occupied with brassicas. The peas and french beans won't be sown until late April/mid May so time yet for them to compost down.

My next task was to plant the shallots. I had bought 2 bags in late autumn but I held back from planting them as last year they had rotted in the soil. I thought I had bought 2 bags of Golden Gourmet so the other week I bought a bag of Red Sun. I cleared the weeds from the bed and loosened the soil before breaking it up. I got the bags out and realised I'd left the Red Sun at home }hairout{ Never mind, at least I'd got last year's sets and went ahead and made 2 shallow trenches - a lot of people tend to push the set into the soil but this can compact the soil underneath the root plate, but it is better to nestle the set into the loose soil, and lightly cover over and this will help the roots to spread out. One bag said 20 sets so I started to evenly spread them out along the row when I looked at the bag again and it said 25 sets :? When I checked the other bag, one of them was definitely Golden Gourmet but the other was Red Sun .... oops, how did I get that wrong.

I finally dismantled the cage over the brussels sprout bed and started to dig out the odd bits of marestail and bindweed, and lift up the roots where I had just lopped the stalks off. The task was taking a little bit longer to do with having to check the soil for rogue weed roots but I managed to get most of it done. A couple were walking by and I called "good morning" out to them only to find it was well into the afternoon. What was meant to be a brief visit had been a lot longer than I intended. So I abandoned the bed to come home. There's not much going on at the plot at the moment so I didn't bother taking any photos. However, I did notice the blueberries gearing up to bursting into flower - I think they are still a little early to be flowering although funny enough, I did hear the distinctive buzzing of a bumble bee nearby so maybe mother nature knows best:

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Annie
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Re: LL's 2013 GYO Diary

Post by Annie »

LL, when I was at the garden centre yesterday, amongst the spring blooms was a beautiful bee - I wanted to draw someones attention to it as it really gladdened me but everyone seemed too busy - oh well it made me happy.
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Re: Chilli and Pepper Update

Post by lancashire lass »

Annie wrote:LL, when I was at the garden centre yesterday, amongst the spring blooms was a beautiful bee - I wanted to draw someones attention to it as it really gladdened me but everyone seemed too busy - oh well it made me happy.


I bet the bees are back hibernating now - the weather at the moment is very wet and cold. Even I don't want to go outside and have opted for some indoor tasks (like house work )gr: )

Well, a week after my last chilli update and things have really got going )t' The heat mat and also placing the trays on top of the fish tank canopy/light have been good sources of warmth and the seeds have been germinating like mad! Chitting them beforehand on damp paper in a plastic bag has also been a good method too as the bags occupy very little space. After sowing the chitted pepper seeds, they were up in a matter of days.

However, space with good light has been an issue so I got a large stout cardboard box and cut holes on the top for the fish tank gro light and bought a cheap new mini 60W strip light. The biggest problem has been where to put the box. At first the trays of seedlings were put on the bottom but I didn't think the light was bright enough so I made a shelf to raise it about 15 inches from the top and that made all the difference. The strip light acts like a heater and raises the temperature inside the box to about 24oC so the plants are getting both heat and light. And they've really started to grow now:

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At the last count there were nearly 120 seedlings but I won't be planting them all but selecting out the best 2 out of each variety for the greenhouses and giving some away, and some are outdoor varieties which I thought of growing in troughs on my driveway (they are pretty purple and yellow and I doubt people will know whether they are edible or not)

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The Trinidad Scorpion Butch T seedlings are now developing their 3rd leaves )t'

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The extreme hot chillies (except for the Butch T) are the slowest to germinate but I learned a valuable lesson last week - the first batch of sowings were sown about 5 weeks ago and so many popped up in the first 2 weeks and then a gradual tail off until they stopped. There were still some modules with damp compost, and I just presumed I had sowed some duff seeds. I even neglected to water them and gave later sowings priority to warmth, when to my amazement, 2 more seeds germinated. A good job I didn't throw them away.

I also have a confession - I bought some more chilli seeds :oops: I wanted a particular variety and ended up buying a few others as well. Most of these however, are very mild and are for my own personal use rather than the heat challenge so I don't feel quite so guilty. However, after the order went in I got an e-mail to tell me the variety I was really after was out of stock }hairout{ I was rather annoyed about that as I would never have bought the other seeds to make the postage cost worthwhile. The tale doesn't end there - I had a check of the overwintering chillies and to my amazement, I had a surviving plant of the variety I wanted (I didn't think I had sowed any last year) I picked it up to inspect and ... it slipped from my hand and the plant broke in two, arrrrrrgh. Unbelievable! However, the remaining stump now appears to be budding up so perhaps it needed a little brutality LOL.
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Re: More Chillies & first tomatoes up

Post by lancashire lass »

I bought these last month - I thought I was buying seed but only realised afterwards that I had bought plants instead. I found an envelope behind the front door when I got home from work with "Plants - Fragile" labels plastered over. For a moment I was confused (have I been ordering things in my sleep? >dowhat< ) and had completely forgotten about the chillies.

I bought these as part of the extreme heat chilli challenge. I'm sure I bought a different set but now I can't remember, and I can't find the order e-mail (if I got one) Oh well, not too big a problem. The plants come in a little plastic box:

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The varieties are:

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and once potted up, look like:

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The grow box with the additional light is now groaning at the seams but I've managed to squeeze them.

An update on the other chilli seedlings - the Butch T are now well into their 4th leaf so coming along in leaps and bounds, but there is a slight yellow tinge to the leaf indicating that they are due for repotting and fresh compost. I was hoping the weather would be warmer by now so that I could put some of the less delicate peppers into the back bedroom to grow on against the south facing window but it is still a bit on the cold side, so space in the grow box is very tight.

Meanwhile, my first batch of tomato sowings have germinated. I sowed 7 seeds expecting maybe 5 or 6 to come up, and all 7 have germinated. These are a big tomato (in ideal conditions, this variety holds the world record for producing the largest tomato see Tomato Record down the bottom of this Wikipedia link) - it is supposed to be a nice tasty tomato too. I'm not expecting to grow for size - I'll just be happy if they manage to set fruit and ripen in time LOL.
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Re: LL's 2013 GYO Diary

Post by mrs boodles »

Thanks for the tip about putting seeds in airing cupboard, I did this and chillies have come through, first time I hav done chillies. )t'
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Re: LL's 2013 GYO Diary

Post by lancashire lass »

)grin2( )grin2(
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Re: LL's 2013 GYO Diary

Post by Benny&Co »

I learn so much from you all on here, thank you LL )t'
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Our family: my-Lovely-Hubbly and I, Benny and our two little Ladies - Betty and Gloria.

RIP dear little Ladies - Lottie, Cottie, Elsie, Dottie, Hilda and Margie. You may have gone, but are never ever forgotten.
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Re: LL's 2013 GYO Diary

Post by lancashire lass »

Benny&Co wrote:I learn so much from you all on here, thank you LL )t'


:-D you're welcome. My main advice at this time of year is not to sow too early and keep an eye on the weather when sowing outdoors - most seeds won't germinate if soil temperatures are below 10oC, and that is usually colder than air temperature so a lovely sunny day doesn't guarantee warm soil.

Well, 5 inches of snow outside and quite a bitter cold wind getting up too so indoor tasks are the only things going on. I had one last batch of chilli seeds to sow - African Bird Eye (aka known as seasoning Piri Piri) They took a much longer time to chit but finally signs of life so now in compost.

The oca (New Zealand Yams) have been chitting just like the seed potatoes. Last year I started them off in pots and when temperatures plunged in May, I kept them in the greenhouse and planted them out when summer finally arrived. They are grown just like potatoes and can be earthed up but, as there aren't as many tubers to plant unlike the potatoes, I've decided to go down the potting route again as they planted out well and filled up bed space in an instant. The white ones are getting a little too eager, but the orange and crimson ones are much like potato chits:

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For the past 3 years I've been buying the 3 for £10 bags of compost from Asda and been very happy with the quality, but I'm not too pleased with this batch - it is not composted down very well and full of bits. I'm sure it'll be fine for re-potting but I'm going to have to buy in some more compost suitable for seed sowing:

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The chilli project is slowly coming along - the grow box in which I had set up additional lighting has been very useful and many chillies are now on their 2nd or 3rd leaves. Some of the Butch T are coming into their 5th leaf but I'm not happy with the leaf colour - they are not the healthy dark green colour I would like to see. Thinking it may be that they had outgrown their tiny pots, I re-potted one only to find the roots were not that extensive. Other reasons for yellowing leaves are lack of nutrients such as nitrogen, poor light (usually accompanied by very leggy growth), too cold, cold draughts or using cold water when watering. The only thing I can think of is lack of nitrogen as all other reasons have been taken care of (apart from perhaps temperatures not as high as I would like but not cold either), so I've been adding a little liquid feed to the water (I fill a jug with water and leave it at room temperature before using) Fingers crossed that they improve soon:

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Meanwhile, some last minute chilli germinations have pushed the limits of the grow box to full capacity so I had no option but to move some seedlings into the back bedroom. I normally do not heat the room and at this time of year the temperature is tolerable but I've had to set up a little oil radiator to take the chill off. I decided to move the ones destined to grow outside in there as they are more likely to withstand cooler temperatures and they seem alright:

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Meanwhile the onion seedlings are doing fine:

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My other task today has been repotting the overwintered chillies - fresh compost and a little pesticide treatment to keep on top of any aphids that followed the plants indoors (with spring weather, they emerge and infest chillies and other indoor plants to the point of death so always worth a treatment):

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I'd like to get on with some more sowings and decided to try the chitting method again to start off parsnips. I usually grow these in loo rolls filled with compost with several seeds to a roll (taking out the weakest ones to let the strongest grow on) However, due to their long germination period, the cardboard rolls usually deteriorate to the point of collapse by the time they are planted out. Many people chit parsnips successfully but I have to confess this is new to me. I also need to get some tomatoes sowed ready for the greenhouse, and time to start off some brassicas such as sprouts and summer cabbages indoors. So, lots to do today )t'
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Re: LL's 2013 GYO Diary

Post by lancashire lass »

Not a lot has happened since my last entry - no new seeds sown yet as the weather has just been too cold even for the greenhouses, and the pasting board in the south facing back bedroom is already chokka full. I've been moving the chilli seedlings from the grow box into there and most have responded well and look much healthier for it. The repotted overwintered chillies are also starting to burst into leaf so I'm very pleased about that.

Just before Easter my old dog got very poorly {cry} and I've not been able to leave the house to go to the allotment during the holiday break as she has needed constant attention. Despite the cold weather, at least it has been dry so I could have got on with some non gardening tasks. We managed a few walks round the garden and I've been eyeing the fruit trees and privet hedge in dire need of pruning so today I got the loppers out and braved the gusty cold easterly wind to trim the trees and one smaller hedge row. The main privet hedge down the full length of the garden is another matter altogether but I'd like to do it sooner rather than later before the birds move in to start nesting (all quiet at the moment). I really could do with getting the shredder out as the pile of branches and trimmings has got a bit big. It's not my favourite task as it is so noisy and scary, but the resulting wood chippings will make great mulch which I can put on top of the weed suppressant membrane round the fruit bushes on the plot (or use on footpaths). I noticed the buds on the pear trees are coming through and it would not surprise me if they burst into blossom next week when the weather forecast is for warmer weather. The other trees are still in winter mode, even the dwarf peach tree which is usually one of the first to flower is still bare.
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Re: LL's 2013 GYO Diary

Post by lancashire lass »

It was cold and frosty this morning so I put several layers on before leaving to go to the plot ... and gradually stripped them off one by one as I got hot and bothered in the lovely warm spring sunshine. I haven't been to the allotment in nearly 5 weeks so was more an assessment of what needed to be done - the gusty wind had knocked over the pallet fence behind the squash bed but generally all else was well.

First task was the rye grass green manure I sowed in autumn last year - now a good foot high and looking very healthy, I decided to dig it in as I'll need that bed in a few weeks time for the brassicas. Also, many people have commented how difficult it is to dig in but I opted to lift sods and turn them over. I'll see how that works by next weekend and I may have to chop them up a bit more.

I had several weeks of fermented compostables (orange peel and coffee grains give an odd but pleasant smell LOL) and I wanted to dig them into the extended end of the butternut bed. That used to be a foot path and so the soil was compacted and very heavy clay - not easy to dig a trench. I then got on with re-erecting the pallet fence and the dry weather has made the soil much easier to dig so I was able to lift up the rotted end of the broken pallet and sit the pallets in better - this time they should be alright. The main squash bed looks very good and will just need some manure digging in soon so that it'll be ready for when I plant out in mid June.

A check on the garlic beds and all have come up, even the Early Purple Wight which was planted a couple of months ago is about the same size as those planted in October so the cold spring has probably worked in their favour. The shallots on the other hand are doing nothing and I noticed one bulb was lifted out completely but it felt fine and I just replanted it.

This morning I deliberated whether to plant the first early potatoes but as I hadn't been to the plot for a while, opted to see what needed to be done first. The calabrese bed had come to the end of its season and was to be one of the potato beds - after clearing the plants into the compost bin, lifting the netting and posts, I gave the bed a rough dig and will add compost to it when I'm ready for planting. The bed next to it just needed a quick weeding and available for planting. I had a look at the size of the beds I'd allocated for the potatoes and I just know I haven't got enough space for all of them - normally I get about 25 seed potatoes per variety but the quantities this year for the same pack weight are nearer 45-50 potatoes as they are much smaller in size. This more or less doubles up the space I had planned on just for potatoes. Already my plot plan is going to pot and the growing season hasn't even started yet.

A peek under the fleece which I'd used to protect the kale from pigeons and most plants look well. However, some have got flower sprouts coming up so they'll need to be harvested soon.

It was just a short visit as I was worried about leaving the dog for too long so I was only there for about 3 hours. Still, my back and hip ached so was time to leave anyway. While there, lots of people had turned up at the site and were busy rotavating their plots. Sadly, some plots were tatty where tenants have given up after last year's wet weather. The plot rent is due next week and this year the council have only charged up until end of December as they have decided to switch from the early April contract to a new 1st January contract. The rent due this year is £32.25p for 360 sq metres, plus £16.13p water charge giving a total of £48. 38p to pay.
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Re: LL's 2013 GYO Diary

Post by lancashire lass »

I'm rather cross with myself - when I checked my camera I noticed the media card missing but now I can't find the card reader where it is most likely to be }hairout{ So no piccies today I'm afraid. Shame really as I like to have "before" photos to show how the plot progresses through the season, as well as an update on some of the stuff already growing.

I have to confess I planned on too many tasks today and didn't take into account that I've been rather idle for the past few weeks, so digging just one bed was more than enough effort for one day LOL. I had some kitchen waste/compostables and old compost from emptied pots to take, as well as 3 bags of new compost, a bag of onion sets, the 2 trays of first early Lady Christl potatoes (46 seed spuds), some maincrop potatoes (5x Romano, 5x Maris Pipers) and 5x Vivaldi (2nd early - just a trial pack) I also decided to take along a pack of Kelvedon Wonder peas and a pack of Express broad beans, as well as a couple of Mustard green manure. With the car loaded, I got to the allotment for 8.00am - already it felt warm with the sun shining and I had to take my tatty jacket off before starting.

The garlic are coming along really well now - most have leaves over 5 inches up including the late planted Early Purple Wight, with the early Illico now easily a foot high. Time for a top dressing of potash - I'm not sure how potash works, but bulbs are definitely bigger for it although I read somewhere that it also protects the garlic plants from rust ... not sure that is true as I still get rust. As the weather forecast is for rain this afternoon and overnight, I didn't need to water it in. I decided to do the shallot bed too - some though admittedly not many, were just starting to push up shoots. With some potash left over, I went around and gave the blueberry bushes a top dressing as well. As I tossed the empty box into the back of the car, I had to smile - a friend had given me loads of stuff from clearing out his mother's garage including 2 boxes of potash - and the "sale" label said "HALF PRICE - 25p" ... potash is so expensive that nowadays a box that size would easily be nearly £5. Potash (Potassium sulfate) is a chemical so would not go off.

Next big task - preparing the bed for the first early potatoes. Normally I get about 20-25 seed potatoes with the 2kg weight but this year they were very small and there was 46 in total ... so the bed I'd allocated for them was woefully inadequate. The only bed suitable was at the front of the plot which I'd created last year for the courgettes - the manure I'd dug in last year had at least made the soil easy to turn over but it still needed a lot more adding, hence 2 bags of the compost went in. After digging and pulling out some weeds (including nettle - a good sign of soil fertility), I made 3 rows and planted the potatoes about 10 inches apart. At this point the wind had started to pick up and was getting very blustery.

I had a rest break and noticed that the shed from the vacant plot next to mine had been moved into the community plot. There had been a pile of wood planks on that plot for over 2 years, most of which were rotting and not useful for raised beds (the vultures had already been in and taken the best ones), but I decided to help myself to the rest and started to edge the communal footpath .... long story short, when the boundaries were shifted, I had to create a new communal footpath between our plots but as the neighbours never used it, they never contributed to its upkeep. As a result the path dipped in several places and I've been trying to remedy it over the years but the sorry state of next door's plot meant it never got done properly. What it actually needed was a ditch to mark the path out properly and it seemed a good idea to make a start while the plot was vacant so I wouldn't upset the new tenants if anyone took the plot on. The wood just acted like a marker (on their side of the plot) to hold the path together and then I was able to level it off properly. I have to confess it was not on my list of tasks to do today and took a lot longer than I'd like to admit. I only did about 10 metres (the full length of the plots are 51 metres) but that small bit looks amazing. Well worth the effort but just a shame there wasn't more wood to finish the task.

Unfortunately it was a very tiring job and I still had lots to do. I decided to get on with the main crop potatoes and I had selected the bed where last week I'd lifted up the old calabrese/sprouting broccoli and done a rough dig. However }hairout{ it has been so dry that the soil had baked into solid clay briquettes. Even with the bags of old and new compost thrown in, the soil was way too solid to even think about planting potatoes and I would need to get some more compost and add lots of sharp sand to loosen it (and rain would help too) I spent the next hour bashing the clay clods with the spade and tried to turn the compost in but it was just too much. With aching back and hip playing up, I was almost thankful when dark clouds rolled in and it started to rain .... time to leave. I emptied the kitchen waste into the compost bin and hurriedly put the wheelbarrow back into the shed and tools in the car while bracing myself against the wind. It was already 1.00pm so I'd been at the plot 5 hours - no wonder I felt jiggered.

So I've brought the onion sets, seeds and the seed potatoes home again, as well as the compostables I was going to dig into the squash beds {cry} . With lighter mornings, I might be able to do some smaller half hour tasks before going to work. Usually by mid April I would have got lots done by now and after talking with another plotholder, it would seem everyone is about the same LOL.
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Re: Sowings - Brassicas

Post by lancashire lass »

It dawned on me that I have yet to sow the brassicas - cabbages, Brussel sprouts, calabrese and early sprouting broccoli should ideally be done in March ... while still in the grip of winter then, it had completely slipped off my list of things to do.

I like to grow different varieties to extend the season - cabbages for summer, autumn and winter cropping all need to be sown about now, so the list include Langedijk, Primo 2, Red Drumhead, Kalibos, Golden Acre, Christmas Drumhead, January King, Ormskirk and Greyhound. Calabrese/broccoli include Early Purple Sprouting, Romanesco, Miranda and Green Sprouting, and for the sprouts, Bedford Darkmar, Evesham Special and Red Ball. I want about 3-4 plants of each so have sown 2 seeds per module of compost with 5 modules per variety and I'll just select out the strongest ones to grow on.
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Re: Sowings - Herbs, Flowers and Celery

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I've set aside a fair sized bed and some containers on the plot to grow different herbs this year. So I thought I'd get cracking and sow them sooner rather than later! Herbs sown are: Caraway, Common Fennel (the smell when I opened the seed sachet was divine), Lovage, Lemon Balm, Lemon Mint, Korean Mint, Peppermint (I already have garden mint which I sowed in autumn), Thyme, Winter Savoury and Chamomile. I know I've got some Italian Oregano seeds which I saw only the other day but can I find them? I've grown seeds labelled oregano before but I've not been impressed with the flavour - very bland and not like the real thing at all. I have a big tub of Greek Oregano just outside the front door - lovely smell when you brush by and has a much more herby flavour but still not the type I like for spaggy bol so this is my last attempt at growing proper oregano ... even if it doesn't measure up to what I want, at least I know the bees and butterflies will enjoy the flowers. Now where did I put the seeds???? }hairout{

Flowers for the plot and greenhouse include French Marigolds (I like to think they keep the pests away such as aphid and white fly so ideal round tomatoes, chillies and brassicas) and Pot Marigold (Calendula) is supposed to be good for repelling asparagus beetle - I had a bad infestation on my other plot so I know the pests are nearby - so they'll be ending up in the bed with last year's asparagus seedlings if they survived the winter. They are also attractive to black fly and so hopefully keep them away from susceptible crops. Pot Marigold is also very good for skin problems like burns - blend the petals in an ointment and apply to the skin, and of course, they are such bright pretty flowers and no doubt the bees will visit them too )t'

Finally celery - I like Golden self blanching as it is more mellow in flavour and goes well in cooking. It is also easy to grow too. Last year they did exceptionally well and the trick is definitely fertile soil and lots and lots of water (so all that rain last year had some good after all) I'm also trying Red Soup for the first time - this one appears to need earthing up which is a new concept for me but is said to make lovely soup.

All the sowings are in pots of compost in trays and put into a big plastic bag and left in the back bedroom where hopefully the sun will trigger germination (a lot of seeds like celery need light so are not covered with compost). The temperature in the back bedroom was lovely last night - I noticed nearly all the chillies and tomatoes are responding well to the extra warmth and sunshine :-D Soon it will be time to start repotting ....
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Re: Sowings - Tomatoes & a Plot Visit

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Last week I chitted a big batch of tomato seeds and last night noticed that some had started to sprout so time to plant in compost. Last year I had such a mixed batch of germinations (the weather turned very cold in late April/early May soon after I'd sowed them) and there were a fair few failures, so I thought I'd try chitting to see which ones are viable. There are a number of different varieties which are going to be grown as tasters and to monitor their growth and yields, but my reliable main crop for the plot this year will be Roma which makes delicious passata )t'

This morning I thought I'd visit the allotment plot before going to work. With such a late start to the season, a Sunday morning visit is not enough time to get up to speed so I've decided to do a little bit every other day (weather permitting) even if it's only weeding a bed. Today my original intention was to sow the broad beans that I hadn't manage to do on Sunday but when I got there, I couldn't believe I'd left the compost at home }hairout{ . So plan B - dig up the last of the parsnips and fork the soil over. The recent warmer weather had encouraged some leafy growth but the roots look fine. The bed was more or less weed free anyway so didn't need much more doing to it.

I spied one of the beds that had a mustard green manure growing from an autumn sowing, and although not many had survived the cold snaps, the mature plants were starting to produce flower heads. So time to dig in. I cleared the perennial weeds out first and then lightly dug the mustard in. What I have noticed this year is that the soil a spade depth down is very claggy - I suspect last year's poor weather and rain has had an impact on the clay soil and instead of being lovely and loamy has reverted back to heavy clay. So that means adding a lot more compost to the beds this year especially for root veg.
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Re: Sowings, Repotting and Germinations

Post by lancashire lass »

Busy busy this morning - another batch of tomato seeds were sown but worryingly, a load more are still not doing much but it has only been a week since I chitted them. As I took the sowing trays into the back bedroom where it is warmer to encourage germination, I noticed many of the chilli seedlings had really got going this week so time to repot.

This morning I only had time to do one tray so potted on the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T - they have come along really nicely since they were moved from the grow box into the south facing back bedroom. Those pale leaves have since greened up and look a lot healthier. Although I had thought they had been warm enough in the grow box, apparently cooler temperatures can make the leaves go pale so lesson learned there. The other extreme heat chillies included the first Naga I had sown (from the batch of seeds given to me by a colleague - I really must find out which Naga as there are several varieties), a Spanish Naga, a Naga Bhut Jolokia, Dorst Naga, 2x 7 Pot (Pod) Red and a 7 Pot (Pod) Yellow and a Red Habanero. I also had a couple of Jalepeno, a Hungarian Hot Wax and a couple of California Wonder peppers to repot.

A quick peek of the brassica sowings and )t' loads have germinated. I don't really want them too warm so the greenhouse was out of the question but they do need light so I took the propagator lids off and put the 2 trays on the racking outside. Today is forecast possible heavy showers, so put a piece of plastic on the top shelf of the racking to hopefully protect them from the rain. I'd have liked to have put some slug pellets around but time was running short and I was already late for work. Let's just hope the slugs and snails don't realise there is a feast waiting for them until I get home from work.

With loads more chillies needing to be repotted, the space in the back bedroom will be inadequate so I'll start to move some of the less delicate ones into the greenhouse this weekend. The list of jobs to do is now starting to go off the scale - spring panic has arrived! LOL
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