16 Feb - Tomato Update

I've had the tomato seedlings I sowed on the 23rd January on the windowsill in the house. Both varieties, Marmande beefsteak and Alicante, have done OK in their cells but it was time to prick them out into individual pots. (Pic - a dozen tomato seedlings with two pots of spares in the middle).

I've chosen six of each variety for potting up and have kept a few of each as spares just in case I lose one or two. I usually plant out eight in the bottom of the greenhouse plus the odd one in large pots so, I've plenty to grow on.

The sweet peppers I sowed on the 7th February are still in the heated propagator but no show as yet. Last year it took around 20 days for them to germinate so I'm not holding my breath just yet.

We've actually had a couple of days of clear skies and frosty mornings. It makes such a lovely change not getting soaked with lashing rain every time I poked my head out of the door. 

On Saturday (13th) my plot neighbour and I cleared some of the back hedge which had encroached massively onto his plot over the years. One of the main issues was a scrubby tree that was leaning badly, blocking light. We took this down with the upside that I get some free timber for the wood-burner for next Winter. (Pic - frosty start to the day with a stack of wood from the hedge line). 

That's it for this quick update, bye for now.

07 Feb - Sweet Peppers & Seedling Update

Welcome to February though the heavy rain over the last 24 hours is anything but welcoming. The site is utterly waterlogged again and we are going to need a few weeks of warm winds and sun to dry the ground out so it's anywhere near workable. Exactly two years today, according to this blog, I was out digging in sunshine; while I now have a bit of sun outside at the moment the ground is useless for anything.

So, inside it is and I've just sown some sweet peppers, variety Californian Wonder. These are a cheap, generic sweet pepper that produce lovely red and green peppers from July to October.

Sweet peppers can take sometime to germinate, even in a heated propagator and I've found seed is seldom viable after two years of opening. So, I tend to sow plenty, especially in the second year of the seed to ensure five or six plants, which are enough for our needs. If you get a load come up then you can always give some away.

Just a quick update on the leeks and tomatoes I sowed last month. The leeks are up and I have plenty to thin out to my usual forty plants. I'll be pricking them out into a larger, deeper tray in the next few weeks. The tomatoes have done much better than last year when the Shirley F1's I sowed were both expensive and pathetic. The Alicante's and Marmande have germinated well and I have around ten seedlings of each; unless something disastrous happens, these should provide me with five of each variety for eventual growing on.

The tomatoes and leeks are sitting on a sunny windowsill at the moment; the toms are bound to get a bit 'leggy' due to lack of seasonal light but they can be planted deeper which actually benefits them as the buried stems will put out more roots for better growth.

That's it, see you soon.