After a brief spell in the freezer I have now put my first batch of broad beans to chit. Hope to put them into the plot on Monday. It depends on the weather. Plastic bottle cloches are waiting for them. They will then be all mulched up with straw. Straw from last years bed all six inches of it has now completely disappeared. This years patch has been covered with leaves, hopefully the worms will have been active.
Also got peas and mangetout on the go. Come Monday I will also sow Parsley. I simply sprinkle on the surface. I think I will wait for the broad leaved type because they seem to be less hardy. I will also sow my first batch of parsnips.
I'm still holding off...although our land drains fairly well, even after all this rain we've been getting, but I feel it is still bit 'touch and go' here.
Saying that...... last autumn when I 'tidied' up in GH..and after throwing all the broadbean pod 'rubbish' into border...I have missed so many seeds that now there is jungle of few inch tall plants in one pile where the rubbish is.
If I would purposely planted/sown any..I bet the mice would have eaten the lot. I'm going to let them be for now...and later on probably dig the lot up and transplant them...waste not..etc.. :icon_cheers:
Parsnips chitting to test for viability, big challenge tom seed sown, plus 6 pots each of basil,parsley and coriander for the plant sale in may, all in the propagator, plus some leeks started :happy7:
Gigeroo can I ask why you chit your broadies...? To me they are one of the easiest thing to get going... Simply sow and in 10-14 days they pop through.. no heated propagator required.. I just use the windowsill or spare bedroom.
I just don`t have the urge this year, 10 minutes uphill from the somerset levels. I will only be growing veg that can stand sogginess
Have sown my first lettuce seeds in the conservatory. Peppers, peas and greenhouse tomatoes later in February. Potatoes are chitting too.
I've not sown anything yet, besides a few early potatoes. But hoping to get started maybe at the weekend with some tomatoes and chillies :icon_cheers:
Chilies went on yesterday - 5 varieties - but other than a few spuds everything will wait another few weeks.
2 bags of premiere potatoes started off inside today and the long red florence onions need transplanting :happy7:
Tomatoes, peppers, parsley, onions, basillettuce, all in the propagator yesterday - nothing ventured, nothing gained and I'm lucky to have a conservatory and lots of south facing windowsills!
I chit and then sow straight outside. The windowsills become too full with other things and facing south they tend to cook things. The seeds that go mouldy will be thrown out.
The soil is very very wet at the moment so I do not hold out much hope for the ones I have sown, so I will do another batch into pots.
All my over winter beans have all died, which is a frustration since it has not been that cold so far.
Certainly plenty of scope for rice paddy fields around here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/oxford/content/image_galleries/flood6_gallery.shtml?49
The River Thames is the small area on the left of the pic.
The reason I chit broad beans is to get rid of those that are not viable. It is very little trouble to wrap seeds in a damp cloth in plastic bag for a couple of days, then go and poke them into the ground as usual. The germination rate is surprisingly variable, so I give the rootless ones another few days, and add the good ones to the patch, chucking the rest.
I hate preparing the bed, sowing the seed, then having gaps!
Quote from: artichoke on February 04, 2014, 10:16:18
broad beans
I hate preparing the bed, sowing the seed, then having gaps!
Heard a good tip for that - sow a little patch at the end of the row with several beans - transplant them into any gaps once all are up and growing.
For peas I always sow twice in the same bed; Once the seedlings are about 10cmhigh, I look for the gaps and push a few more peas in. In the end they grow at about the same rate.
I sowed some broadies a week ago and they are chitting in the ground already. It is quite mild here.
Quote from: strawberry1 on February 02, 2014, 22:09:45
I just don`t have the urge this year, 10 minutes uphill from the somerset levels. I will only be growing veg that can stand sogginess
Seems that you could be popular if you grow lots of veggy crops, it seems unlikely that the lower ground will be fit for planting any time soon. Have you seen anybody building an ark?
Good luck, from soggy Hampshire.
Where's the jealous smiley gone?
Water levels up here, half-plot two underwater again, doesn't seem a lot of point starting anything yet!
Adrian
I chitted my broadies last year because the ones I'd saved the previous year were really dodgy-looking. Mostly I just put them in and see. I'm going to plant them direct this year, two to a hole.
Chillies and aubergine seeds are in, broad beans are popping up, potatoes are chitting away and the peashoot planters are very tasty.
Next week I'm sowing my chervil root seeds in a huge pot...and wishing the plot wasn't sodden and flooded in parts.
I've only sown some tomatoes so far, chillies and aubergine planned for tomorrow :happy7:
Just put some chitted peas out in the plot, and started some sweet peas.
Broad beans, peas and parsley in pots are now looking very bonny.
First Parships now out in the plot. Still a bit soggy so waiting before I sow some more.
Chitted parsnips planted out, 2 types of early carrots under fleece with radish between. Sowed 4 types of cabbage, turnips, spring onions, beetroot, pak choi and salads all sown undercover in cell trays. Propagator, 5th type of toms and some celeriac in :toothy10:
Just been too busy to sow anything this year. Within the next couple of days fingers crossed.....
I have sown tomato seeds indoors, all destined for buckets and gropots and on the patios in the sun. Also a few little gem lettuce. I am only growing basic veggies this year on my small allotment and have sown the sutton broad beans in root trainers, ready for a stormy allotment later. In weeks to come, a few hardy green cabbages and a few red drumhead cabbages, a couple of sprouts, kale, beetroots in modules. Potatoes, if they ever arrive from thomson and morgan. Parsnips called guernsey. Oh I am getting a bit ahead of myself here but you get the picture. I am not killing myself and the most exotic will be a few climbing squashes and italia courgettes
Jermor, autumn sown, are doing fine and will replace onions for me as they seem to bolt less
Yesterday I sowed a short row of rocket and one of lettuce in the cold frame. Not too wet and frost gone. But I don't think I dare start on peas. Mizuna and rocket in frame from early winter are about two inches tall (or short!) I would like them to realize the days are longer! But it was just great getting something in the earth!
Quote from: mormor on February 23, 2014, 08:55:02
Yesterday I sowed a short row of rocket and one of lettuce in the cold frame. Not too wet and frost gone. But I don't think I dare start on peas. Mizuna and rocket in frame from early winter are about two inches tall (or short!) I would like them to realize the days are longer! But it was just great getting something in the earth!
It is certainly fine to start and sow peas indoors and transplant. Outside they would need protection, not so much from the cold (they can tolerate quite a bit of frost). What gets them is mice eating the seeds and sharp winds snapping the plants. If you can protect them from both, you can sow outside now.
I put peas outside under bottle cloches. I put a cane through the top of each one to stop them being blown off and try and bury bottles several inches down. I am not sowing wrinkled variety peas yet.
I like the mangetout. The Swiss Giants are snow peas and in the past I have had them outside under bottles at -19, they are fine as long as the leaves do not touch the edge of the bottle. I still consider the early ones to be a gamble and I am starting some more off. If the bottles blow off they are a goner and sink without trace. Voles, deer, squirrel, pigeons?
I have peas and beans coming up in pots as well. The peas need to be planted out they are getting too big.
The parsley I sowed is now looking very bonny I have five pots of it like little green lawns. They are now in the porch to harden them off, though I took them in the night before last. We had a major frost -2.
For the last two years I have protected peas from wind and pigeons by encasing the row in cheap fleece tied with string to upright bamboos. They do seem to grow extra well inside this protection, especially early in the year, though it looks horrible. I have some gutters and pots of Oskar ready to go out - it is a very low-growing pea, supposedly early and prolific, so I hope to get away with a protective plastic tunnel at first before supporting them and doing the fleece thing.
Apart from that I have not sown any of the seeds mentioned in this thread, and feel very behind......is today the first day of spring according to some?
At least I have a respectable area of chunky little broad bean plants and an experimental field bean patch.
I am leaving my tomatoes out until the weather gets cold again, perspex greenhouse so nothing fancy but they will do well. Love it when this happens :happy7:
Am thinking about parsnip seed sowing but am sitting on my hands and waiting for 2 more weeks, neighbour lost all hers last year as the ground was too cold. 22 march onwards is when I will start seed sowing in earnest and that is when I will put my spuds out too, however I am deviating because I am going to bung a few beetroot in a few modules today. Oh I really do have to sit on my hands just now. Plenty of time for most seeds
No sense in hurrying, one half of the allotment still slurps when I stick a fork in it, and it's so open to the West that everything is alway slow getting going, but I sowed my cennin on St David's Day (a clue there, for the even harder of Welsh than me), and some cayenne peppers too. I'll do things gently for a bit as we're away for a week in early April, don't want to kill too much stuff!
Does feel good to get a few seeds in, though...
Adrian
my early peas are up, plus sweetpeas and the 3rd sowing of broadies (d**n mice!)
first chilli flower will open any day now from an overwintered lemon drop and I've stuck some beetroot in modules.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh that does scratch an itch!
3 bags of smile spuds planted indoors, 3 types of cabbage sown and salads transplanted :happy7:
It is another very beautiful day in somerset and am deliberately not going to pack any seeds in my bike bag for the allotment. I want to sow but it is too early for what I want to grow this year. I put some basil in a pot for indoors and a few beetroot in modules, transplanted some lettuces. I want to get parsnip and rainbow chard sown but on 22nd march, says I with a determined voice. Looking at my notes from last year and the fact that I want to grow good big cabbages and doric sprouts, end of march will do nicely. No spinach, celery, fennel this year but just the stalwarts including squashes and courgettes
The ground had such a battering this winter and I don`t believe that we are in for a settled summer, so sowing will be biased to veg that will stand whatever the weather
Potatoes are chitting, jermor have grown nicely over winter, so hunky dorey in reality. I shall have to be content to hoe today and maybe pick a caulie if big enough
I am just back from 3 hours hard labour. The ground is clay and is still cold and claggy. The raised beds are good but underneath will also be claggy. Too early yet for spuds or seeds in the ground in my area and I am somerset. The surface was like a smooth crust so I have been breaking it by swinging my azada and I am tired now.
Finally made a start today! Embarassed to say that meant first clearing the old tomato plants out of the greenhouse! Then sowed some broad beans. Didn't want to be anti-social any longer as my daughter's up from London for the weekend, but it feels good to have finally got off the ground!
blimey, nature wants to get going. Boltardy are up in only 4 days and I just put the module tray outside. Great considering they are old seeds, I keep them in airtight boxes in the fridge, all except parsnips, year on year
I have 3 x 3` tall raised beds at home in the back, only about 4 sq feet each, where we have a hot microclimate and it has been getting to 23 degrees lately. The beds are slightly cooler and more shaded. The gravel garden is 3m below the young orchard behind so is sheltered. I have just sown some early nantes 2 seed tapes in one of these beds, they were left over from last year, If they grow well then I can start pulling them late may to june and in the meantime will grow on a sutherland kale in a pot to replace the carrots. Got to make these beds work for me and kale is a great one to have by the house in the depths of winter.
I may well prick out my tomatoes today, they look hungry. 16 strillo, as they freeze brilliantly and also 6 ferline as they are reliable and taste nice. All are good outside all summer but I can get the 4 ferline under cover, which gives them a push ahead
Quote from: caroline7758 on March 08, 2014, 17:50:04
Embarassed to say that meant first clearing the old tomato plants out of the greenhouse!
Heh...I'm just about to do mine too..though I'm not embarrassed..happens every year.. :icon_cheers: Yesterday I was tidying other GH and found trays of dried bean pods...still waiting to be 'cleaned' and seeds stored away...and when I say 'found', its not that the GH is 'THAT' untidy..but the GH has been winter storage for sacks and sacks of sheep wool.. :drunken_smilie:
Well...I can now say that this week Its been my 'I'm off' week...FINALLY! Toms, chillies, peppers and lettuce are 'done', it took ages to decide what varieties to choose and like every year, I'm surprised what new packets have accumulated in to seed box from last sowings :drunken_smilie: Today is broadbeans and wheat's turn and to plants second half of the shallots outdoors...pot up some onion seedlings...divide everlasting onions... (I'm off topic now..sorry...)
Ohh it feels good to get back outdoors... :icon_cheers:
Another one here still clearing out the old tomato plants!.
I planted some garlic and onions in polystyrene boxes in the greenhouse a couple of weeks ago and they are all doing well with plenty of green shoots.
Last March/April I planted garlic cloves outside and none of them came up. Yesterday, I went up to the area where I had planted them and I was amazed to see that they had not only sprouted but were about 10 inches tall.
I will be soaking sweetcorn, peas and beans tonight with a view to putting them in pots or polystyrene boxes to start them off. It's still too muddy to walk on my vegetable beds at the moment.
I will also be starting off my chillies, cues, courgettes, squash and tomatoes by wrapping the seeds in wet kitchen towel, putting them in plastic bags and placing them in the airing cupboard until they chit.
Three early spuds planted two weeks ago under cover
Toms have germinted indoors. :sunny:
I've got TPS and some of the broad beans in, all in pots.
QuoteThree early spuds planted two weeks ago under cover
:BangHead: Now you remind us. :tongue3:
sitting on my hands didn`t work and parsnip seeds are in. I had a cover on the soil and tbh it felt more than 7 degrees. I will give them a month and there will still be time to sow replacements id needed
Tomatoes are coming in at night today, weather has changed again and I have dug out some lengths of fleece for the lettuce and beetroots if it gets to ground frost temperature
With all the rain this year Digeroo I sort of overlooked the Cornys spud Challenge. :wave: :sunny:
Finally started with some chilli, pepper and aubergine seeds :icon_cheers:
Sowed the second lot of early carrots scarlet horn and some chioggia beetroot today, under fleece in case :happy7:
Green globe artichokes in the greenhouse ............. kindly allotment peeps covered my plot last year, due to my circumstances, and buried my old plants. Have a few Jack Hawkins tomato seed to put in the prop this weekend - so on my way :blob7:
Ninnyscrops x
seed sowing in ernest from today :icon_cheers:
Am working from plot plans for rotation 2014 and sowing brassicas today, all destined for autumn and winter and sauerkraut. Will sow more than I need and grow on to sturdy plants before putting in the beds, I found a cutworm a few weeks ago . I`ll be taking precautions like 2" plastic collars and diatomaceous earth but the extras might be important, young brassica plants can sit around in a neglected state in pots, under net I must add, they grow on like wildfire if needed for the plots. Several plants just toppled last year and I was so glad I hadn`t got rid of spares
Well I've not started anything as yet as I've been on holiday. First I need to clear the greenhouse of last years hanging baskets, overwintered plants etc. But I will be starting this weekend. everything usually catches up.
Strawberry1 - how do you make sauerkraut??
Quick sauerkraut story,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
My dad was born in East Prussia in the 20,s when everything was scarce,he and his 8 sisters would meet father at the local bierkeller and roll an empty beer barrel home ,once there they would
All go to the fields and bring home plenty of cabbages,once chopped and washed these would be added in layers into the barrel along with layers of salt,the barrel would be filled,and sealed with the lid and lowered into a hessian lined hole in the ground and covered over for 1 month it had a breather tube into it with a cork stopper,and over the weeks father would remove the cork to test the smell,once ready,it would be removed to decant into large jars with herbs,it was this bottling that dad says was fun as the then starving kids would gorge themselves on sauerkraut .....and he says the resulting noxious wind tween he and his siblings was only something a family could share in the confines of a huge bed with blankets being blown off at random.
Anyway,father would then trade the jars of sauerkraut to the village butcher for meat,so I guess no matter how impoverished you are there is always a means to survive,,,,,,,Circa 1932,,,,,Ragnit,Northern Germany.
Gazza
I liked that gazza. Sauerkraut making is easy, shredded cabbage, some salt, I use a quartered whole apple. All in a big stoneware pot and bashed with a marble sawn-off rolling pin. Juices flow. Weight down a lid (plate) and leave then bottle. Lots of info on the net. I have a special sauerkraut. I have a 5l sauerkraut fermentation crock and use it lots. I am eating 2 year old kraut today, kept v well in a cool dark place
A great tale Gazza!
I can attest to the gas producing properties of Sauerkraut. We ate in an Alsacian restaurant in Paris once and I ended up eating tons of it. Could have connected me up to the gas main!
cos your gut wasn`t used to the probiotics in the sauerkraut George. No probs if eaten often. I haven`t enough left now, only two kilner jars and they will go in a few weeks, so ordered some solid white organic cabbages and will make more this friday, galling to get shop bought cabbages but I cannot grow enough.
All brassica seeds are up and I am trying to get my head around some net protection that does not involve too much faff. Am thinking a cheap folding crate that has lots of small holes. I have some of these crates in my utility room and will punch a few holes in the bottom, so my seed trays and pots don`t get water logged. Net can go on top with a piece of dressmaking elastic. Yep, talked myself into this. I foolishly left seedlings exposed to cabbage whites last year and butterflies may start flying this week as the weather is lovely now
I`ll need to see if parsnip seeds are popping up this week, I`ll give them another two weeks and will be prepared to sow a new batch if needs be. I am always on tenterhooks re parsnips
:icon_cheers: Brassica seedling protection solved: have 4 large deep troughs that were meant for the tip last week but overlooked. Pots inside and butterfly net on top with a knotted piece of elastic around. Excellent actually as plenty of depth and also sheltering. Started using first one yesterday as seeds are up and it is warm out. I am so glad that we overlooked taking the troughs to the tip. I used the balconniere troughs for 2 years but they get massively heavy and also bulge and get discoloured, this protection use is much better than original use. They have a black internal removable base so the seed pots are on that. Later, after pricking out, there will be plenty of height, if I take the black trays out, until transplanting out and if not then I will raise the net height with a hm contraption but I don`t think I will need to
like these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/270996842308?hlpht=true&ops=true&viphx=1&lpid=95&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=95&ff19=0
troughs that were meant for the tip last week but overlooked
Oh yes..those are the best discoveries...something you already had and put in good use for some other way :icon_cheers:
I did some of 'that' myself yesterday...decided that one of my peach trees needed repotting or planting into ground...and ended up emptying old metal dustbin from 'junk' and as it doesn't hold water I just made the leaky hole bit bigger and now my tree has much heavier 'planter' that will last yeeeeears to come..not only that old marquee pole was hammered into ground as support....compost for back fill were dug out from my 'builders bag planters' , bit of fertilizer and JOB DONE.. :icon_cheers: Cost= next to nothing.. :icon_cheers:
As the new dustbin planter is bit tall and any possible crops would be too far to reach without ladders...I had to dig deep hole into ground...find old slab to drop into bottom of the hole and 'drop' the planter in. Dug out soil from the hole was used to level some ground..got scattered with some flower seeds that lottie neighbour gave me that morning...didn't need them or knew what to do with them then but couldn't say no neither...now they got used.. :icon_cheers:..and that same area has room for another fruit bush too.. :icon_cheers:..and once the fruit bush that I already happen to have in pot (rooted some cuttings other year) is planted...there is more 'fresh soil' surface available for yet more flower seed scattering.. :icon_cheers:
Gosh....its like conveyor belt...one action results many different options and jobs... :drunken_smilie:
Gosh, goodlife, you are so creative and imaginative - so full of energy and boundless enthusiasm! I get breathless, just reading your posts :wave:
The dustbin/planter sounds a great idea :sunny:
squashes going into pots today, they need 25 minimum so all in a heated propagator. Now I feel that summer is on its way. Just got swedes, kales and repeats left. Been an easy start this year as I have limited myself and also warm enough to leave everything outside or in cold mini greenhouse. Tomatoes are looking great and already have nice thick stems.
Improvised netted troughs are working a dream
squashes in today here, also. First 5 tomato plants in their final pots today and some of the plug plants planted outside, turnips, beet, orientals and spring onions. Just put some dwarf beans in the toilet tubes :happy7: