Seed time

I've been busy in the garden.   Now is the time for planting veg seeds for the forthcoming season.  I'm trying out a few things for the first time, including getting sweet potatoes to grow.  We kept a shop-bought specimen in the fridge and last week I chopped it into chunks and planted them.  We shall see.

The tomatoes and sweet peppers are doing well, and I'll put them out once the last frosts are past.   At the moment, the forecast is for 3°C on Wednesday 28th, so if on that date the forecast for the next few weeks is still for nothing colder, I'll plant them out.

I've expanded the veg area somewhat.  Last year I cleared out the brambles from a new area, and I have been slowly pick-axeing the stones and rocks out of it.   I don't think it has ever been ploughed.   I take hope for the quality of the soil in the fact that it's got lots of nettles, a weed that is picky about soil nutrients.   So I have a new, useful area just in front of a low SW-facing dry stone wall, that I expect will retain the sun's heat.   I have put plastic netting in front of it for climbing plants, and put peas down this morning.   I also bought some black plastic water pipe so I can water the area.

The raised beds are more or less under control.  In the far one you can just about see the twisty tomato stakes in place ready to recieve the plants, the next one has the over-wintered broad beans.   This is the second year I have tried these and again I'm disappointed by the success rate.  Only about half of them germinated, and of those that did, only about 3/4 have survived.   I will get a (small) early crop however, and I'll plant the remaining beans that I have in the gaps, for a later crop.   Meanwhile I've planted carrots, beetroot, parsnips and spinach in the same bed alongside them.   

The next bed is ready for onions and other root crops, and is yielding the last of the brassicas from last year, in the form of purple sprouting broccolli.  In the next bed the bean stakes are ready for the Borlotti beans.   These have an excellent flavour and Anita uses them in a superb cassoulet that she makes, an activity that I like to encourage.

The gooseberry bed is a mess, so moving on, the nearest raised bed is for brassicas.  The sprouts are well-advanced but the rest seemed to take a dislike to the compost I used: they germinated, but then stopped growing, so I have planted new seeds directly into the soil.

Lastly I have put a tarpaulin down in the new area in front of the wall, for growing squash.  I have butternut seeds left from last year and new seeds of a red Uchiki Kuri squash. Next projects are for sweet corn, climbing French beans, and dwarf French beans.