Been reading through March issue of magazine, getting loads of inspiration & thinking better to get those seeds planted, then realise this is relative to March not February.
Garlic, onions & shallots order arrived this week, need to be stored for a while.
Waiting to use new toy (Bosch blower/hover/shredder).
Seems like this time of year you have to be patient.
Itching to get stuck in.
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Pa Snip
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Colin2016 wrote:.
Seems like this time of year you have to be patient.
That last word is the keyword Colin
The danger when people start to believe their own publicity is that they often fall off their own ego.
At least travelling under the guise of the Pa Snip Enterprise gives me an excuse for appearing to be on another planet
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tigerburnie
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Nah, I'm chitting spuds, sprouting onions, leeks and chillies, all in the double glazed conservatory mind, but I always start my new years gardening on or around Boxing Day.
Been gardening for over 65 years and still learning.
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Pa Snip
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Only thing I have sown so far is Exhibition onions in greenhouseon Boxing Day.
Thinking about it though I may have sown some seeds of doubt in Westi's mind as to whether she is going to survive her island experience.
Thinking about it though I may have sown some seeds of doubt in Westi's mind as to whether she is going to survive her island experience.
The danger when people start to believe their own publicity is that they often fall off their own ego.
At least travelling under the guise of the Pa Snip Enterprise gives me an excuse for appearing to be on another planet
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Westi
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Pa! Seeds of doubt hardly ever grow well, although grow quickly initially! Today I did something new for me - I pulled out all the leggy seedlings in the propagator & re-sowed my toms, some chillies & aubergines. Even with the grow light the natural light was not good enough to support. I'm itching to go as well but trying to be grown up & not a teenager this year.
Westi
Hi,
Started my chillies off today in my heated propagator. Eight varieties and one experiment. The experiment - in one pot is the remaining piccanti seed from a pack. In a second pot is piccanti seed from one of last years chillies. Same soil, same conditions, same number of seeds. Looking forward to seeing the results.
Pawty
Started my chillies off today in my heated propagator. Eight varieties and one experiment. The experiment - in one pot is the remaining piccanti seed from a pack. In a second pot is piccanti seed from one of last years chillies. Same soil, same conditions, same number of seeds. Looking forward to seeing the results.
Pawty
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sally wright
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Dear All,
I am starting my Chillis, peppers and Aubergines this week. I sowed two trays of salad cress last week along with some broad bean and nasturtium seeds. I will use the nasturtiums for salad leaves when they are big enough. I sowed some late last year in August and I picked the remaining bagful of leaves last week. I had kept them in a frost free poly tunnel and they just kept on producing so I kept on eating.
I will also be sowing a few windowsill veg punnets of lettuce, rocket and peas (for shoots). I may even sow some chard, dill, parsley, coriander and spinach; with luck I can have an Easter salad. I nearly forgot! I also sowed some calendula and hollyhock seeds for edible flowers. The kitchens at work go mad for them, but me? not so much!
How I sow all these hardy annuals etc is as follows; half fill the tray you are going to use with normal potting soil with a few slow release granules added (about 5g per litre of compost). Smooth it out and press this down until it is level then add seed sowing compost to fill the tray up to the top. press down hard enough so you can have about a 1cms gap between the lip of the tray and the soil level (otherwise you will find it hard to water). Sow your seeds and cover as appropriate for their size.
You can grow plugs if you have some cells it is really up to you and what kit you have available. The main thing is the two layers of compost as it makes germination so much easier.
As the weather gets milder the trays can be taken from the greenhouse or indoors to cold frames and then to the great outdoors as the season advances. I find the blue mushroom crates lined with newspaper ideal and I will use spent compost from the window boxes as the lower layer (with some added fertilizer). All these hardy annuals are really robust with few problems and are easy to grow (lettuce excepted) and do not seem to mind second hand compost. Temperature wise 5C will be enough as a minimum overnight temperature for all these hardies once germinated.
Now is a good time to take all those little garlic cloves from the kitchen (you know the ones, those from the middle of the bulbs that you won't use because you cannot be bothered to peel but cannot bring yourself to throw out) plant them in a pot on the windowsill and
use the sprouts as garlic chives - yum.
I may sow some courgettes (the self fertile ones)at the end of the month so I can have them producing by the beginning of May (with luck). Perhaps a few bush cherry toms and a couple of self fertile half long cucumber (passandra). I honestly think veg prices will not come down until the middle of summer as the disruption to growers has been so great so any early veg we can get will be even more valuable this year.
A couple of books I have found useful is the winter harvest handbook by Eliot Coleman and winter vegetables by Charles Dowding
Regards Sally Wright.
I am starting my Chillis, peppers and Aubergines this week. I sowed two trays of salad cress last week along with some broad bean and nasturtium seeds. I will use the nasturtiums for salad leaves when they are big enough. I sowed some late last year in August and I picked the remaining bagful of leaves last week. I had kept them in a frost free poly tunnel and they just kept on producing so I kept on eating.
I will also be sowing a few windowsill veg punnets of lettuce, rocket and peas (for shoots). I may even sow some chard, dill, parsley, coriander and spinach; with luck I can have an Easter salad. I nearly forgot! I also sowed some calendula and hollyhock seeds for edible flowers. The kitchens at work go mad for them, but me? not so much!
How I sow all these hardy annuals etc is as follows; half fill the tray you are going to use with normal potting soil with a few slow release granules added (about 5g per litre of compost). Smooth it out and press this down until it is level then add seed sowing compost to fill the tray up to the top. press down hard enough so you can have about a 1cms gap between the lip of the tray and the soil level (otherwise you will find it hard to water). Sow your seeds and cover as appropriate for their size.
You can grow plugs if you have some cells it is really up to you and what kit you have available. The main thing is the two layers of compost as it makes germination so much easier.
As the weather gets milder the trays can be taken from the greenhouse or indoors to cold frames and then to the great outdoors as the season advances. I find the blue mushroom crates lined with newspaper ideal and I will use spent compost from the window boxes as the lower layer (with some added fertilizer). All these hardy annuals are really robust with few problems and are easy to grow (lettuce excepted) and do not seem to mind second hand compost. Temperature wise 5C will be enough as a minimum overnight temperature for all these hardies once germinated.
Now is a good time to take all those little garlic cloves from the kitchen (you know the ones, those from the middle of the bulbs that you won't use because you cannot be bothered to peel but cannot bring yourself to throw out) plant them in a pot on the windowsill and
use the sprouts as garlic chives - yum.
I may sow some courgettes (the self fertile ones)at the end of the month so I can have them producing by the beginning of May (with luck). Perhaps a few bush cherry toms and a couple of self fertile half long cucumber (passandra). I honestly think veg prices will not come down until the middle of summer as the disruption to growers has been so great so any early veg we can get will be even more valuable this year.
A couple of books I have found useful is the winter harvest handbook by Eliot Coleman and winter vegetables by Charles Dowding
Regards Sally Wright.
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oldherbaceous
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Dear Sally, your replies are always so well written, that i always look forward to reading them....I'm sure everyone else would agree with this too!!!
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.
There's no fool like an old fool.
There's no fool like an old fool.