The garden is starting to take up time again and not just sitting around looking at seed catalogs, although I do enjoy doing that bit! My shallot ‘Longor‘ sets arrived last week, as did my potatoes (‘Charlottes‘, as I usually grow and still my favourite) ready for chitting. I need to get the shallots in so will do a re-cap on last years planting but I am already struggling for space in the raised beds so I’m not sure where they are going yet.
Today I put my first group of seeds in the germinate. The February list consists of:
Tomatoes
Sungold x 1
Brandywine x 2
San Marzone x 3
100’s & 1000’s x 3
Tigerella x 3
Aubergine
Violetta x 2
Turkish Orange x 2
Sweet Pepper
Mini Red Skin x 3
Topep Rosso x 3
Chilli
Hot Stuff x 2 (well that’s what is says on the packet!)
Cucumber
La Diva x 3
Tasty Burpless x 3
As you can see, I don’t plant anything in large quantities, we just don’t have the space plus I really only want to grown what we can eat fresh with a bit for use in pickles etc. I am also quite lazy when it comes to sowing seeds, this year I have used small plant pots filled with an organic (none peat) compost. I don’t sow many extra pots, only what I hope to grow to the final vegetable, I would rather add extra seed and prick out any extra that germinate, if I want to keep them, or throw the extra seedlings.
The pots have now been covered and left in the kitchen which with it’s underfloor heating is nice and warm, once the first signs of life appear I’ll uncover them and pop them in front of our ‘glass wall’ where they can get plenty of light and annoy the heck out of Marcus by turning the kitchen into a temporary greenhouse 🙂
I did so badly germinating cucumber seeds last year that this time I am doing it ‘properly’. They need a high heat to germinate, ideally 21-24 degrees so I have potted them up, put them into a box (as it was handy) to block out the light and they have gone next to the radiator in our bathroom which is the overflow radiator so it’s always on and the room temperature is a constant and rather barmy 21 degrees. We’ll see how they go.
Lastly, I planted up 2 gutters with Beetroot (Pronto & Burpees Golden) seeds in the greenhouse. I forgot to check the weather forecast (doh!) and see now that we are due a cold spell this this was probably a mistake, however, the seeds have gone into old rain gutters filled with damp compost, 5 cm apart, then tucked up in the seed bags for warmth and to keep out the light. If they germinate I will thin to 10 cm, before moving them outside and into their final position in one of the raised beds when it’s warmer. Oh and I soaked the seeds for an hour or so in warm water before planting.
That’s it, enough for today and I really need to make time to plan my vegetable beds so I can get Parsnip seeds in this month. Right, off to cook a chicken.
Rock Cottage Year 