08 Mar - Sowing Lettuce, Broad Beans & Spring Onions

Yesterday the weather was lovely but this morning dawned wet and miserable. Nevertheless, with brighter weather promised this afternoon, I decided to sow a few seeds under cover of the greenhouse.

The first was some early lettuce which I will grow on in the greenhouse until it can be planted out on the plot. I've a few varieties in stock but I thought I'd try two kinds, something new and something well known. The new lettuce to me is Mazur, a 'frisee' type lettuce that doesn't heart up; the leaves are taken as required. The second variety is a family favourite, the red Lollo Rossa. I sowed the lettuce seeds into a few cells, a variety each side. I don't want loads as I'll be sowing some more in a few weeks.

Last year I sowed my broad beans earlier as I needed them to be finished by June so I could put squash in their place. This year there isn't the urgency as I have a full plot for the first time so my broad beans can go out a little later. I initially sowed Sutton last season then did a catch crop of Bunyards Exhibition which did really well. This time I'm only sowing Bunyard's as they are larger plants, they produce more beans and time pressures aren't important. I've used root trainers and they'll stay in an unheated greenhouse unless there are severe frosts.

The last thing sown today were a few White Lisbon spring onions. Despite the books saying that these are easy to grow, I've always had sparse germination when sown direct in the plot - I know I'm not the only one on my site that has this problem which makes me feel a little better! As a result I've always raised a few in seed trays then have dibbed them in when established. I've seen a few videos now where growers sow them into cells and plant out a clump which seem to grow on OK, rather like a clump of shallots. This seems a much better idea then trying to handle them individually so I'm trying something similar.

I dropped by the local allotment shop today to buy some bulk items. This shop was established after a bit of local allotment association re-organisation and is located on a site down the road from me. I remember the old shop further up the valley, all I can say is that there were a couple of people there who had a very bad attitude indeed and went out of their way to be as unhelpful as possible. 

Today's shopping experience couldn't be more different - the people manning the shop were jovial, polite and couldn't do enough to get what I needed. Given that allotment sites are now encouraged to engage with the public, there has been a sea-change in attitudes - whereas I used to be regularly quizzed about which site I belonged to and whether I should be 'allowed' to buy from the allotment shop - now there are signs up on the main road encouraging anyone to come and make a purchase. Well done all.

That's it for today, the next sowing will be brassicas. I'm off to write my monthly allotment article for the local newspaper. Bye for now.