Sunday, February 26, 2006

Is Spring Here Yet!!

I was out on my bike on Saturday an while it was still cold, the sun made it feel very spring like and gave me the urge to plant something and get going with this veg growing business. So I put a few lettuce seeds in modules in the propigator, in the hope I have the cold frame finished before they get too big.

Visited the lottie with some compost and found it a hive of activity, the 2 plots next to me which looked abandoned have sprung back to life. One was owned by an old chap who had heart trouble last year but is back this year and has rotivated the lot ready for some planting and the half plot which was an overgrown weed bed except for 1 leek now has 4 beds in it. It seems everyone is making a new effort this year.

The Leeks



As you can see these are coming up nicely in their cardboard tubes, once they get a bit bigger I will thin it to one per tube and grow them on in the cold frame ready for planting out in about June.

Spuds



A small problem here, I swear I put the bag labels in the trays so i would know which was which!!!!!. I am assuming that the ones with the bit chit (ooer) are the earlies (Foremost) and the others the main crop (Sante), but to be honest I have no idea.

I bought these from Mr Fothergills, only then to find a good selection in my local market a lot cheaper, well you live and learn, and this is my first year.

The Cold Frame



This seems to be taking ages, all it needs now is a final coat of white inside to help with the ligh and some glass. should prove big enough for my needs I hope.


Roll on warmer weather

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Some Progress

A few minor activities to report, my seed spuds have arrived and are laid out in trays under cover, they have started to develop shoots but I'll keep them under cover a bit longer as it's a bit early.

The white onions I ordered didn't look like enough so i've been out and bought 100 more of a different variety as well.

I have started the cold frame, bought the grow bags to go in it etc, but run out of wood, it's about twice the size I intended.

I checked the soil PH at the lottie the other day and it looks good, hopefully just a liberal spread of growmore (which B+Q sold cheap) is all that will be required as part of a light digover as I get ready to plant. The weed control seems to be working on everything except the garlic chives which appear to need niether light nor weater!!!!!!!!!!