It was raining today but I was determind to sow some peas. Last year we sowed our peas directly into the soil. They germinated okay, if a bit patchy. But to be honest the main problem was that I was a bit lazy and didn’t bother to support them. Consequently, they fell over once they grew tall and the mice had the lion’s share of the crop (damn those mice).
We went pea stick collecting a few weeks ago and brought home some decent twigs to support this year’s crop. We’re also employing the guttering method for seed sowing. We’ll be keeping these lengths of guttering in the cold frame until the peas are at least and inch or so long and then they will go out on the plot complete with pea sticks.
I sowed some more broadbeans yesterday. The Autumn sowing of Aquadulce just didn’t germinate. I’m not really sure why. I planted them on exactly the same day as veteran allotment holder David, and they were the same variety. Yet his all germinated and just one of mine did! I can only imagine that my soil is heavier than David’s (despite our plots being right next to each other) and that my beans rotted in the soil. So we’ll put that down to experience and start again. This time with tons of organic matter ploughed in first, and a nice early Spring variety ‘Longpod’. I’m determind to have broadbeans on the menu this year. If you have any broadbean tips please let me know. It’s the first time I’ve tried to grow them.
Last year we grew Little Gem, Pentard Red and Webbs Wonderful lettuce, with great success. Obviously, because it was our first year we made a lot of mistakes.
We planted far too many seeds, all at the same time and far too close together. This year we’re much wiser. And… we’ve got Monty on our side. As I found out after reading his book, The Complete Gardener, Monty is crazy about lettuce. He grows it all year round and has a poly tunnel dedicated to the task. On his list of ‘approved’ lettuces are the following:
Cos Lettuce = Little Gem, Lobjoits Green, Rouge d’Hiver.
Butterhead Lettuce = Tom Thumb, Merveille de Quatre Saisons.
Looseleaf = Salad Bowl, Red Oak Leaf.
Red Lettuce = Red Salad Bowl, Aruba.
Iceberg = Mini Green.
Winter Lettuce = Winter Density & All the Year Round.
Out of those I have chosen one from each group - Little Gem, Aruba, Salad Bowl, Lobjoits Green, All the Year Round and Merveille de Quatre Saisons. I ordered them all from The Organic Catalogue and Johnsons Seeds (I did look at The Cutting Garden, Sarah Raven’s site but they were the most expensive and charged £2.50 for delivery, so I didn’t bother).
I know it’s a lot of lettuce to be growing, but we really like it, and you have to leave some for the slugs, don’t you?
Signs of life reported at mtp. After months of well… nothing suddenly things are starting to happen in the cold, murky depths of the plot. On the left is the garlic I put in before Christmas. The middle picture shows the blackcurrant bushes bursting with colourful pink buds. Below that are the Summer raspberry canes. Over in the top right is one of the (35) onion sets. And below is one of the (few) broadbeans to germinate from the Autumn sowing. I’m so excited - I can hardly contain myself!
In an attempt to have ’something’ growing right now I sowed some purple sprouting broccoli seeds around a month ago. I didn’t think they would grow as there’s not much light to be had in our small courtyard garden. But I’ve been proved wrong. They’re going great guns and this one has even got to the two leaf stage. I’m not a hundred percent sure when they should go in the ground but I might fashion a cloche from a water bottle just in case the weather is too much for the little mites. Dragged Ryan to the garden centre today to buy fresh potting compost and Potash for the fruit bushes. I plan to pot up some broadbeans (Longpods) at the weekend to replace the batch of no-shows from the Autumn sowing.
Umm…while searching for Broccoli-related items online I found Broccoli Town which seems to be some kind of town where they grow a lot (and I mean a lot) of Broccoli. Apparently all the Broccoli is passed through a metal detector for our ’safety’. I don’t pretend what’s going on here.
