Sunday, March 14, 2010

At last

I've finally got some sowing done. It feels as though I'm miles behind, but then so is everyone else. No point sowing stuff when it's been so cold. But today the season has opened, in a small way, with:

Tomatoes
Monte Carlo, Lilliput (cherry type) & Astro Plum - all F1 hybrids from Seeds of Italy

Cabbage
Stonehead, red Drumhead & Filderkraut (some kind of German shredding cabbage apparently? We'll see!)

And a good dollop of Sweet Peas.

I've put them all in a seed mixture I've not tried before, courtesy of Jane Perrone's Allotment Keeper's Handbook, viz:

2 handfuls of 'normal' potting compost
1 handful of Vermiculite
1 handful of Silver Sand

It looks good & handles well. Fingers crossed; no pressure there then, Jane!

I've also moved the strawberry plants out of the conservatory into the cold frame, resurrected from winter quarters, buried in old crap behind the shed. The conservatory itself is bursting with plug plants I'm growing on:

Geraniums x24
Begonia x20
Impatiens x24
Petunia (ordinary) x20 (and a bit scabby cos I let them dry out)
Petunia (Surfinia) x8
Nepeta x8
Fuchsia (upright) x8

They're all still quite titchy of course but they'll grow; oh lordy, how they'll grow. Wish I had a greenhouse.

5 comments:

brad said...

We gardeners all feel the same that we are all weeks behind,not helped for me by golfers elbow.

Gerry Snape said...

It's encouraging to know that we are all in the same boat.But a little more happens every day. Thanks for the blog.

Damo said...

getting better every day now fingers crossed

Unknown said...

isn't it wonderful - a week and a half with no snow ! (although there is snow on the hills when I drive to work still !)

Nutty Gnome said...

By 'eck Woody - all this and fame as well eh?! What's goin' on?!!!

I've been doing some sowing this afternoon - broad beans, runner beans, peas, mange tout, cabbage, chillis, peppers, courgette, squash, cucumber, aubergine, tomatoes, sweetcorn and chinese cabbage..... kept me out of mischief for a bit!