18 Jan - Chitting Potatoes & Sowing Toms

As can be expected for the start of the year, the weather has been cold with regular ground frosts since the beginning of January. Temperatures have fallen to -3 some nights and I expect things to get colder.

There's still a few bits and pieces on the allotment though, leeks, Winter cabbage, kale, parsnips and sprouts. In store I still have potatoes, masses of onions, a bit of garlic, Crown Princes squashes plus various beans and carrots in the freezer. (Pic - the allotment in Jan 2018, enveloped in a hard frost).

So, with January's cold and gloom, it's nice to think about Spring with the arrival from Thompson & Morgan of my Sarpo Mira main crop potatoes. I ordered them just before Christmas for delivery this month and a small parcel was here on the 13th. I say 'small' as I'm planting far less potatoes this year due to downsizing, main crop and earlies will be sharing one bed this year. 

I've gone for my usual Sarpo Mira main crop spuds, they are blight resistant and do very well every year for me, producing numerous large tubers. I've laid them in a seed tray, 'rose' end up to chit and have placed them on a frost free windowsill. They'll stay there until it's safe to place them in an unheated greenhouse as they need good light but no frosts.

I've gone through the same chitting process today (18th) with my early Rocket potatoes. I buy my earlies from my local Wilko store as they are much cheaper there than ordering them from a major seed supplier and paying postage on top.

In addition to the potatoes I've bought my usual Sturon onion sets and some garlic. For the past few years I have been replanting my garlic but I decided to refresh my stock this year. I've gone for Germidour again as the variety is cheap and reliable. For tips on planting garlic in the early Spring see my post here. Again, both onions & garlic were from my local Wilko store.

Finally, I've sown my cheap Alicante tomatoes today. They will go into a heated propagator until they germinate then they will be molly-coddled indoors on a bright windowsill until they can be moved safely onto a shelf in the greenhouse at the end of March/early April. After a few 'potting-ons' they will be planted out in the bottom of the greenhouse.

That's it for now. Bye.

17 Jan - Leeks & Sweet Pepper - Early Sowing

It's the middle of January and I've finally succumbed to the temptation of early sowing some seed. I'd like to stress at this point that the sowing is indoors in a heated propagator with the resulting plants to be kept indoors for at least another 6 weeks when they will be moved to an unheated greenhouse in March. There is no point in trying to sow seeds outdoors in Winter!

The first seeds to be sowed are Musselburgh leeks. This good old variety will be transplanted into a deeper container when large enough before planting out into their final position on the plot in late May/early June. I've tried different varieties of leeks but Musselburgh can be dug from mid-Autumn all the way to late Spring and they stand extremely well throughout the Winter months. (Pic - frost covered Musselburgh leeks in mid-Winter).

I've only used a half sized seed tray this year as there's loads still at the plot so I'm going to reduce the number I plant out this season. There will be more than enough for us. I mix a little sand with some seed compost, sow the seed thinly on top then cover with more compost mix and give it a light watering.

In addition to the leeks, some early sweet peppers have been sown too. This year I'm trying Corno di toro rosso for the first time, a long form of the capsicum sweet pepper. I find that peppers take a fair bit of time to get going so starting them off early gives me a slightly longer cropping season. However, as these are new to me there is of course the possibility that this particular variety might not take to an early sowing so I am prepared to sow again in March if required.

The seeds were simply sown in mid-sized flower pot. If/when they germinate I will thin down to around 10 seedlings and will transplant into individual pots when over 5 cm tall. I hope to get five or six plants to grow on. Unlike the leeks that will tolerate cold even when fairly young, peppers require warmth to thrive so the young plants will be kept indoors on a bright windowsill until the greenhouse warms up and becomes frost free.

Both the leeks and peppers have been placed in a heated propagator indoors to germinate. I expect the leeks to appear in 7-10 days, the sweet peppers usually take 18-24 days. Both will be watered as/when required.

That's it for this post, bye for now.