Early April Update

The past week or so was beginning to feel more like Spring, but this week has dropped very cold again, and this morning there was quite a frost. The cold spell is set to dominate this week, but hopefully will then go back in the right direction!

At least, I hope so, because I have begun to plant and sow many of my vegetables for the year.

Here is a comprehensive list of what I've got done so far:

Shakespear Onions grown from sets, I planted 4 in a large pot, and 4 in the ground back in October. 3 have begun to grow on in each location, which I'm happy with, as I've never grown onions before.

Garlic - I planned on only planting my own saved garlic from last year, but ended up planting another lot from the fridge. Both were in different locations, but for some reason the ones nearest the house got eaten by birds. Last weekend, I decided to re-work that bed as it was a bit weedy, and discovered that the bulbs were still there with healthy roots. However, I decided that I would remove them, as I was unsure whether they would develop without tops. So the 7 on the other side, from my saved garlic, are doing well.

These are my leeks, which I sowed back on 23rd February. I'm quite happy with them, and have tried 2 varieties this year - Musselburgh and Oarsman. Although I sowed the same number of each, the Musselburgh had a much lower rate of germination. I guess this is because they are older seeds.

The first tray of cells I sowed had several things in it, but some of them failed. They were all sowed on the 9th March. So what I have here are my Picollo tomatoes, Boltardy Beetroot, and Bolder Beetroot. I have decided to try multi-sowing my beetroot, and about half have germinated. The Boltardy have done much better thatn the yellow Bolder variety.

For a bit of colour and to attract some lovely bees, I have some Sweet Peas, saved from last year's plants. I sowed 6, and half have come up. I'm not entirely sure whether I should have in fact pinched out the tops, as there are no side shoots. But we will see!

And my final cell tray sowed on the 24th March - I'm really pleased with the rate of germination on this one! It contains All the Year Round Lettuce, Some multi-sown Basil, Broccoli Raab 60 Day, Golden Acre Cabbage, Greyhound Cabbage, Peas (Twinkle), and not yet germinated Little Gem Lettuce, and White Lisbon Spring Onion. Weirdly, these last 2 are the ones that failed in the first tray, so might have to throw away the seeds if they don;t come up.

Finally, for my front garden, I have a couple of new flowers - Caledula and Dehlia. Excited to see these as I've never grown them before. Both sowed on the 29th March.

Outside, I have also planted my potatoes into bins and pots. 3 varieties - Charlotte, Maris Piper, and Melody. As well as these, I have 2 varieties of carrot sowed in pots - Heritage and Nantes.

From last year, I still have 5 leeks, which will need to come out of the ground soon!