10 March - Quite a bit of seed sowing today - most will end up in the heated propagator but, due to a lack of space, some will be left in an unheated greenhouse for the moment. What's gone in today? Well, first up are the broad beans into large root trainers - the variety is Bunyard's Exhibition which did so well last year. With a bit of luck, by the time these are ready to be planted out the weather would have warmed up a bit. I've also sown some Dwarf French beans, variety 'Nautica'. I've never grown the dwarf, bush type before so these are one of my new crops for this season.
A few brassicas have also been sown today. Summer cabbages Primo II, kale Nero Di Toscana and Brussels Sprouts Bosworth F1. The kale has gone into a set of cells but the brassicas have gone into some pots to germinate and I'll transplant them into their own pots when large enough.
A few other crops have been sown too. Perpetual spinach, lettuce both green Mazur and red Lollo Rossa and, a few White Lisbon Spring onions too. Again,these will be started off in the heated propagator and with the weather beginning to warm up, it won't be long before they are in the unheated greenhouse.
I've even done some work up the plot. I've decided to take out the central path that has been dividing my two plots. Firstly the turf from either side of the path was removed to leave a strip of about a foot width which I intend to cover with black plastic for a year and will then dig into the plot when all the grass is dead.
11 March - The day dawned bright and sunny which give me the opportunity to do a bit more work on the plot. I removed the covers from where the onions are going in a few weeks time and used the plastic sheets to cover the grass path that divides my two plots. I'll leave this for a year and hopefully the grass will die and I'll be able to dig the ridge back into the plot next year.
As the covers were off I dug out my tiller and gave the ground a going over. The covers certainly do a decent job because the tiller flew through the soil protected by black plastic all Winter; it was much harder work to get the small tiller through the area left uncovered due to a lack of plastic sheeting. It certainly shows that plastic covers do a good job of keeping the worst of the Winter rains from compacting the soil and leeching out the nutrients.
That's it for now, bye!
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