What have you sown so far?

[Ricard with an H]

I'm still plucking up courage to sow, I thought the agreed wisdom was to avoid sowing until you know the outside temperatures are to maintain 10 degrees at their lowest.

For the last two years I ended up loosing so much stuff and what did survive went all leggy.

Last autumn I sowed sweet peas, they stayed in the cold-frame all winter and whilst they didn't grow they managed to survive and look quite keen to get going.

Ok-ok, I'll look to sow something that might survive under a cloche or in the cold-frame.

I have spring flowering sweet williams and forget-me-knot that are sprouting fresh growth outside so is this a sign ?

[Primrose]

Ricard. Have you thought about sowing some rocket.? Its been growing outdoors all winter here.

[Ricard with an H]

Oh-yes, I have grown rocket and as you point out its still growing. I also planted some winter lettuces, two types. They are both still surviving. My garlic and remaining cabbages are looking good and I'm thinking of taking a few leaves from the odd cabbage soon on the basis of cut-and-come-again.

What happened last year was that when the weather finally improved, and the ground warmed-up, then direct sowing seemed to be far less faffing about than risking leggy early sowings that remained leggy then fell over.

Fine if you have a greenhouse or a tunnel though even my indoors sowings didn't do as well as those that were done outside when the weather was right.

Better late than never, Eh ?

I'm warming the soil under a cloche ready for some planting, another cloche is over some cabbage that took a right-old battering from winds that almost lifted my roof so after the scaffold came down I had a lot of respect for those cabbages.

Each year I'm learning a little more about what is needed on this site which isn't cold compared to eastern counties but the desiccating effect of endless strong wind needs dealing with.

[Geoff]

I planted potatoes today in bed that had been sheeted over since 21st January, and very nice soil it was too. So good in fact I skimmed some off first for making potting compost. The potatoes were well chitted and are now cosy under a cloche. The rest of the bed remains covered waiting for the rest of the potatoes in a month and the shallots from seed that are just germinating in the greenhouse. Everything else I have started is either in tunnel, greenhouse or propagator. I agree in your mild area if you can find a way of creating cover that doesn't blow away you could start quite a lot of things, I don't check soil temperatures but I reckon they must be much higher than last year.

[Ricard with an H]

It was a sort-of resolution of mine to recognise the difficulties we each have, each year. Covering the ground makes so much sense when you consider how wet-ness lowers temperature. (I used to keep a wet towel on my beer barrel)

Last year I did manage to cover some ground with fleece and this did have its desired effect though it was a daily struggle re-positoning stones, of which I have plenty.

Keeping fleece down seems easier than keeping polythene down though I have yet to experiment further. The two cloches I built that are mechanically fixed down appear to be shouldering the winds we've had so far.

Sticking pegs into wet soil in the hope it will hold down what is in-effect a kite, is like pee-ing into the wind. Stones just get rolled away from the edges of polythene though they do hold fleece down, presumably the polythene needs burying around its edges ?

I'll first see how I get on with the cloches, they don't cost a lot in materials but they are time consuming to build. Hopefully, once built they will survive for a few years. If the ends don't de-laminate. That softwood ply was left-overs from another job, who amongst us can resist using left-overs ? The ends sit on the raised-beds frames rather than the soil and are held down by galvanised steel straps, I had assumed the need for some ventilation so the cloches sit a couple of inches above the soil.

[Geoff]

I would expect polythene covers would be a lot warmer than fleece as they also keep out the cooling rain. I posted a photo of my sheeted over potato bed taken at a strange angle but I can't find it to link to so here it is again. I have some old sections of wooden beams removed during the conversion that I use to hold down the polythene supplemented by concrete blocks.

[Ricard with an H]

Ahh-yes, that looks like a proper job and though this isn't a criticism I always try to avoid having anything flapping.

Two main reasons, if its flapping its noisy and windy nights are noisy enough round here. Then, if its flapping I feel it has just enough 'windage' to start moving things but you have given me an idea.

If that border could be tucked under, then 'hems' sewn (or whatever they do with polythene) I could slide timbers down the 'hems' and place stone over where the timbers are.

You're a PRO Geoff.