Just wanted to let you guys know how my first year is going.

[Piglet6]

I planted small amounts of the following crops in pots (well, most of them):-

spinach - has all come up and getting their 2nd leaves
shallots - doing really well in the flower bed
beetroot - lots, if not all, have come up. Are just getting 2nd leaves
leeks - very slowly emerging
carrots - loads have come up. Will have to thin out later.
potatoes - doing brilliantly. Have earthed up for their first time.
radishes - are doing tremendously, especially as a snail has been munching on them! Have 2nd leaves coming.
spring onion - very slowly emerging
salad leaves - only sowed this seed on Monday. Hopefully might see some activity within another week.
chilli plants - doing well. Put them on the patio in the day and in the shed overnight.
runner beans - not come through yet. Sowed the seed approx 1.5 weeks ago.

[oldherbaceous]

Morning Piglet6, congratulations, sounds as if things are going very well at the moment.

[Parsons Jack]

I planted small amounts of the following crops in pots (well, most of them):-

spinach - has all come up and getting their 2nd leaves
shallots - doing really well in the flower bed
beetroot - lots, if not all, have come up. Are just getting 2nd leaves
leeks - very slowly emerging
carrots - loads have come up. Will have to thin out later.
potatoes - doing brilliantly. Have earthed up for their first time.
radishes - are doing tremendously, especially as a snail has been munching on them! Have 2nd leaves coming.
spring onion - very slowly emerging
salad leaves - only sowed this seed on Monday. Hopefully might see some activity within another week.
chilli plants - doing well. Put them on the patio in the day and in the shed overnight.
runner beans - not come through yet. Sowed the seed approx 1.5 weeks ago.

Hi Piglet6,

Sounds encouraging doesn't it. How are they doing now?

[Piglet6]

This is what I wrote in April:- "I planted small amounts of the following crops in pots (well, most of them):-

spinach - has all come up and getting their 2nd leaves
shallots - doing really well in the flower bed
beetroot - lots, if not all, have come up. Are just getting 2nd leaves
leeks - very slowly emerging
carrots - loads have come up. Will have to thin out later.
potatoes - doing brilliantly. Have earthed up for their first time.
radishes - are doing tremendously, especially as a snail has been munching on them! Have 2nd leaves coming.
spring onion - very slowly emerging
salad leaves - only sowed this seed on Monday. Hopefully might see some activity within another week.
chilli plants - doing well. Put them on the patio in the day and in the shed overnight.
runner beans - not come through yet. Sowed the seed approx 1.5 weeks ago"

24th MAY
spinach - have been harvesting about 8-10 leaves every other day
shallots - growing nicely. Have fed them as the leaves were losing their glossiness.
beetroot - having a bit of a growth spurt
leeks - about 2" tall
carrots - growing beautifully. Thinned them yesterday & covered them with enviromesh.
potatoes - doing brilliantly. Are resembling triffids! I'm sure I can see some tiny little flower buds.
radishes - have been harvesting them already
spring onion - same as the leeks, about 2" tall
salad leaves -only 5 germinated ( But those 5 are doing really well, and are under the enviromesh with the carrots
chilli plants - don't look like they've grown at all. Waiting for June before planting them out.
runner beans - growing with a vengeance! Planted them out today. Managed to get them planted before hubby got home

[Piglet6]

Also on the Piglet Patch:-

Tomatoes - 2 x Gardener's Delight planted out on Sunday.
Chives
Rocket
Mushrooms - white button. In an old compost bag of farm manure in the shed

[Piglet6]

spinach - still harvesting good amounts. Hubby has even told me he's promised his Mum some leaves!!!
shallots - have 1 mouldy casualty. Can see the shallot bulbs gaining in size.
beetroot - some of the leaves have some marks/battle scars on them now, but I can see the beets are beginning to get to approx marble-size.
leeks - about 15-20cm tall. Really need to transplant them soon. Will butter hubby up & see if he'll mind me planting them in the flower-bed. If not, I'll just plant them there anyway before he gets home from work!
carrots - pulled one up at the weekend (to thin out & be nosey) and the baby carrot is beginning to form. Yay!!
potatoes - are doing tremendously well apart from a few flower buds dropping off when I gently touched them. Remedy = don't touch them.
radishes - enjoyed eating my radishes. The ones I left in the tub went too woody to eat. Might sow some more seed soon.
spring onion - aprox 10cm tall & don't seem to be doing very much!
salad leaves - wow! They're almost growing faster than I can manage to eat them!! They live under the enviromesh so (so far) their leaves have been PERFECT.
chilli plants - are now planted out in their final pots and are in a sun-trap at the front of the house. They're growing - slowly - and have lots of little flower buds on them.
runner beans -planted 4. 2 are happily racing up their support. 1 got it's stem munched through (+ a leaf), but it has another shoot on it so I'm hoping that will grow. The 4th one is doing ok but had a couple of yellow leaves (pulled them off).
Mushrooms - are in the shed. IF they're growing then I should start to see something from tomorrow onwards.
Rocket - germinated really quickly but every leaf has suffered from flea beetle. It's now living under the enviromesh in the hope the flea beetle won't get to it. May pull off & discard the hole-y leaves.
Chives - growing slowly.