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The snails are definitely photogenic! I can see why they are popular 

Yes, they've come on well. Planted out this afternoon and I was pleased with the way the snail unfurled and with the root development. Very easy to plant out and no entangled tendrils.

The strips I found in my packing materials box were very slightly narrower at one end, so I chose to have that end in the middle and have the slightly higher part of the strip at the end to contain the wet soil better.  I left about 3 inches unfilled at the end to make wrapping easier (and less messy).  The outermost turn is part empty, rather than less filled  The difference in strip height means that you can't really see the slightly shorter bits of the snail, but since you unwrap from the outside, it made sense to do it this way. Well until a better way presents itself.  No doubt there will be a learning curve here too!

Your peas have come on beautifully, compared to the last photo, no wonder you are about to plant them out.  They do look bonny, Jang! 

Quote from: galina on Yesterday at 13:00:00Just made two seed spirals out of the bubble wrap strips and wanted to sow two kohlrabi types (root day in the moon calendar).  Mislaid one of the packets and have been sowing purple summer sprouting broccoli instead.  Wrong day for sowing, but we can only try!  As overwintering PSB here turns to mush, I bought summer sprouting and hope we will get something later in the year.  Placed inside a supermarket container with holes in the bottom and onto the capillary matting on the seed shelf.

Other good news, the first lettuces have sprouted, yeah!

Congratulations on your germinated lettuces. Spring at last does seem to be with us.

I'm interested in your spirals. You seem to have large centres and narrow outer swirls. Is that just the effect of the photo or does that suit the type of seed? Or perhaps a layer of compost on top? Mine have small centres and wider outer layers. Different styles for different sowers!

I've only tried peas in seed snails so far. For those and based on my previous way of sowing I don't save as much space as you, MR. I sowed 40 seeds in the snail above. They were quite crowded. Usually I would sow them in a 40 module tray 2 per module so the 40 seeds would make up half a module. It's certainly less space taken and less compost too, perhaps two thirds of each. I might get to plant them out today r tomorrow and will be interested to see whether the collar I left helps prevent tangling of tendrils.

Just made two seed spirals out of the bubble wrap strips and wanted to sow two kohlrabi types (root day in the moon calendar).  Mislaid one of the packets and have been sowing purple summer sprouting broccoli instead.  Wrong day for sowing, but we can only try!  As overwintering PSB here turns to mush, I bought summer sprouting and hope we will get something later in the year.  Placed inside a supermarket container with holes in the bottom and onto the capillary matting on the seed shelf.

Other good news, the first lettuces have sprouted, yeah!

Seedy snails update from my morning rounds ,so far onions , leeks, Broad beans, cabbages lettuces, spinach ,celery and beetroot all doing well ,sweet peas from November going strong cerinthe look promising. I have also sown lettuce into cells so will see ! Definitely saves space , I have grown sweet peas in root trainers too , the snails take 80% less space .  I am also going to try soil blocks without the gadget as seen on Martha Swales Instagram ,I believe she has a book too) making soil balls about golf ball size and see what this air pruning malarkey is all about!

As far as I can make out, the cooked lettuce in both French and Viennese versions involve a compact lettuce such as Little Gem, being cut into halves or quarters and fried in those chunks. With diced onion in butter. In the French version this is with peas and in both diced bacon or similar can be included.some liquid is then added to braise for a few moments.

Seed snails quite successful but only tried with peas. Photos to follow. 


Like you, Juliev, it's so much a question of doing what I can when I can that moon phases don't at the moment get a look in. I like the idea of being more in tune with as many aspects of the natural world as possible though.

Have so far only located strips of bubble wrap from my wrapping material box - and sowed the first lettuces into shallow pots instead of seed snails. 

Well, let's put it like this.  I consult the sowing by the moon seed calendar, which makes sure that everything gets done, as the 4 types of veg come round in turn.  Later on when it gets busy, I also sow as and when and the calendar no longer gets consulted.  So my early sowings are all on the correct day, but later in the year much less so. 

There are also French traditional recipes with cooked lettuce. Lettuce soup and French style petits pois (peas with onions and lettuce). Never had either of them, clearly not from my corner of France, haha!

Hope you had fun with your seed parcel, Galina! I've always been intrigued by the moon phase growing. At the moment, my style is more "I've got a few hours available and it's not raining" but I hope to give it a proper go one day.

How are the seed snails going? I think we need to see some pictures