February is an odd month weather-wise, it can have a foot firmly in both Winter and Spring - freezing cold days with snow showers and mild warm days, like today, with temperatures around 12-13 degrees. Still, when the warm days do appear, it gives a whiff of the growing season to come. So, on to the growing. It's been almost a month since my last update, basically because there hasn't been too much going on. However, things have moved on a little now and it's time for a quick catch-up.
Let's start with the tomatoes I sowed in January (see 23 Jan post). They had about 10 days in a heated propagator which saw them germinate and break the surface of the compost. They tend to go a bit 'leggy' if left so I have transferred them to a sunny windowsill inside the house to grow on. Their true leaves are just appearing now so I'll be transplanting them into small pots this week but I'll still keep them inside as it's still too cold to put them in an unheated greenhouse.
The leeks I sowed at the same time have also germinated and are already past the 'loop' stage. I'll leave them grow for a week or two and they will then be transplanted to a deeper tray to grow on until they are ready to be planted out in late May - early June. (Pic above - last season's leeks just before transplanting).
On 3 Feb this month I sowed some sweet peppers, my usual Californian Wonder and, new to me, Spinach Lazio F1. The sweet peppers take ages to germinate, usually around 20 days, probably the longest germinating seed I can put in a heated propagator. The spinach has germinated, been hauled out of the propagator onto the windowsill and is already an inch tall; the peppers are just poking through the compost today and will remain heated for another few days yet. They are such slow growers that's why I start them early in the hope of getting peppers by early July.
Finally, this morning I sowed a few lettuce, Little Gem and Lollo Rosso. I'm always crap at sowing lettuce successively, I tend to sow them in March, have a massive glut by June and forget to sow more. I'm determined to get it right this season, sowing just a few cells of lettuce every three weeks, so, the first batch is now in a heated propagator.
That's it - bye for now.
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