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.
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