Allotments 4 All

Today on leaving work at midday I noticed one of the groundsman raking over the earth at the side of the new car park. " Will you be putting in grass then " I asked, being as I'm a member of A4A and hence a kindred spirit. " Yes " he said " We'll be sowing later this afternoon ". (I can't keep this up) A long story short, he reckons it is now warm enough to sow grass.  Knowing it needs to be 7 ⁰C for grass to germinate I was a bit skeptical, so on reaching home I went out to the veg patch with my thermometer stuck it in the ground and it read 5.4 ⁰C, under my cloches the temperature was 6.0 ⁰C. No way I thought, went into the house and considered it a bit more, my probe on my thermometer is 4" long, but grass seed and more importantly carrot seed is sown in the top 1/4" of ground.  Back outside measured the temperature under my cloches, which are covering my carrot bed, in the top 1/2" of earth ....11.8 ⁰C.  I'm sowing carrots this weekend.

That does it. Freshly glued seed tapes (carrot, beet, parsnip, parsleys and kale), ready or not, are going in tomorrow too. I lied, can't wait til Easter, and long range forecast looks hopeful ;D

MikeB , supersprout,
                                I'm itching to follow suit but tonight the temp outside is -6, and I dont have cloches so  :'( :'(

I'm still full of admiration for mike's brainwave about measuring the temp of the soil that the seeds are actually going to sprout in, rather than plunging the thermometer into the middle of the roast. Note to self: get brain into gear before sowing time
;D ;D ;D

I'll sow a row and name it for you scotch-mist,  :) :) :),

Anybody asks what you want for xmas - CLOCHES -,

Hey MikeB,
thats a great idea, Mothers Day is on Sunday, I'll let OH know I've changed my mind on chocolates ;D

Never thought I'd hear those words (don't want chocolate) ;D ;D ;D

And my birthday is in May ;D  (coldframes)

And Xmas  ;D  Real greenhouse ;D ;D ;D

Guess thats me sorted for this year ;D ;D ;D

Thanks ;)

Remember the magic word 'assembled' ;)
;D ;D ;D

;D ;D ;D

True

i'm on the verge of new greenhouse, just got to find one i like (that i can afford - have you seen the prices !).

and i really do need a thometer  :o.

Mrs KP,
          I'm the same, the prices are ridiculous,

I have been promised that OH will build me one between now and Xmas,

we have been replacing the wooden windows in our house for PVC, and I have been saving the old ones for this purpose, only one more to go ;D

sadly, the OH doesn't "do" DIY (or much) so it's the net for me.  i'm saving up all my birthdays and christmases  ;D

I am going to get a soil thermometer TOMORROW! ;D ;D ;D