14 Mar - Brassica Sowing & Other Seeds

Wow, it's mid March already! Still, the weather has turned into Spring all of a sudden and I've had a few hours pottering around the allotment in a T-shirt. I've been adjusting the chicken run a bit after the Winter, altering the fencing to give areas of well munched grass a bit of time to grow. All three of my hens have gone through a moult and are firing out eggs.

I've finally planted my garlic into the plot. The cloves have been in the fridge for around a month to give them a blast of cold to ensure that the bulbs split correctly. 

I've done a bit more sowing too. First of all the brassicas, I've sown a few Primo II cabbages, just a handful, we really don't get through them and I always sow too many, so with my philosophy this year of growing fewer plants I've sown less. I've also started off my Brussels sprouts, the reliable and excellent, Bosworth F1. 

I'm trying some different kale this year too, along with a few Nero di Toscana I'm growing some dwarf curly kale as well. The kales stand well throughout the Winter and are handy greens for the hens if we don't eat them all. (Pic - Nero di Toscana kale in Winter).

Despite them being 'easy', I find spring onions a little troublesome, often slow to germinate and patchy. I've taken to starting a few off in some small cells then planting them out when germinated. So, I've sown a few White Lisbon spring onions too.

I'm growing Bunyards Exhibition broad beans again this year, they are very reliable and produce masses of beans. In fact I've still got a load in the freezer from last season! Again, I'm growing less this year, I've planted 16 in deep root trainers, I think last year I put in around 20. While the spring onions and the brassicas have gone into the heated propagator to get them going quickly, the broad beans have been left in the greenhouse.

A quick round-up of everything else. The tomatoes are growing in their single posts, a little slower than last year, probably due to slightly cooler temperatures; likewise the Californian Wonder sweet peppers. The spinach is looking a bit 'leggy' in their cells so I might pot-on a few plants. I also need to thin my leeks into a deep tray to let them grow until planting out in late May / early June. Finally, the lettuce, Little Gem and Lollo Rossa, have grown like weeds and will need thinning out too.

That's it for now, bye.