Little and Large

The littlest seeds - Celeriac - have emerged at about the same time as the biggest - Broad Beans - despite being planted a week or so later. I suppose the Broad Beans have a big energy store that they can burst into life as soon as they're given the right conditions.

(You can see the tomato seelings in the background). But that doesn't quite hold true for all legumes as the sweet peas and the edible peas (only just emerging now) took quite a long time to germinate.

You go away for 2 days....

...and this happens! The beetroot and kohl rabi seedlings try to make a run for it.
No sign of the celeriac but then they are very small seeds which means they take longer to germinate. There is the merest hint that the physalis are about to break through and the Love in a Mist are finally out aswell. Meanwhile the other flower seedlings look like they need transplanting as they're producing their 1st set of adult leaves already.

Going to try and plant the Jerusalem Artichokes one night this week if the weather behaves as they're sprouting. Also going to start preparing the early potato bed and maybe get them in too. I think we got a variety called Nicola, but I can't remember and I've lost the label...hmmm.

More Sowing

Had a bit of a flurry on the sowing front, sowed peas (33 x Hurst Green Shaft) a bit later than last year, Beetroot (Boltardy), Celeriac (Alabaster) and Kohl Rabi (XXX).

I sow peas in short lengths of guttering as discovered in the brilliant blog http://www.mytinyplot.co.uk/ last year and the method seems to work quite well. It goes a little something like this:

Fill the guttering almost to the top with compost Place the peas (you can pre-soak but I didn't want to wait any longer) at a spacing of approx. 2cm apart in two staggered rows

Cover with compost (like the ones on the right) and mound it slightly

When the seedlings are big enough to plant out (and the weather warm enough) then its just a case of sliding them into a ready made shallow trench. More when that time comes...

The weather this weekend is too cold to plant out the seed potatoes, that are chitting nicely in the outhouse, and so we've been doing other 'house & flat' stuff and will wait until things warm up. Plan is to plant them on the 5/6th April.

I also transplanted (finally!!) the basil seedlings that have been waiting patiently on the kitchen window sill. They were quite leggy so I've put them in deeper so that they thicken up and develop a better rootball.

Sprouting seeds!!

Came back after a day and half walking in Snowdonia and noticed that the flower and tomato seeds I sowed on Sunday have emerged.

In the lead, in joint first place, are the Blue Echium and the San Marzano tomatoes...closely followed by the Gardener's Delight, Black Peony poppies, sunflowers and the merest hint of the Costoluto Fiorentino and Tigerellas. But no sign (yet) of the sweet peas, Golden Sunrise, physalis or sweet peppers.