15 Feb - Mid Month Update

Wow, it's the middle of February already. January seemed to really drag by but this month is flying. A quick update on some early seed sowing I did in January and February. First the flowers I sowed on Feb 2nd., the nasturtiums and sweet peas. (Pic - nasturtiums).

The nasturtiums have done really well with many of them already having their typical palmate leaves while the sweet peas are just developing leaves at the end of their long stalks. Both are currently sat on a windowsill in the house. (Pic - mixed sweet peas). 

The sweet peppers take ages to get going, they don't seem to have advanced since they germinated. They still have their first seed leaves though a little larger than they were. I've thinned them slightly in the pot. Once their second set of leaves have appeared I'll pot them on into individual pots. (Pic - sweet peppers).

The tomatoes have now been transplanted into their own pots. I only want half a dozen so I've left a load in their cells as spares. If not needed I can give them away. The toms are developing their true leaves now but will remain on a warm windowsill in the house until they can be safely put in an unheated greenhouse in March. (Pic - transplanted Alicante tomato seedlings).

The last thing for this update are the chitting potatoes. The early Rocket spuds are well underway with loads of well developed chits all over the 'rose' end. Of course, these chits will be the stalks of the plant, the green bits, not the pale roots. (Pic - Rocket early potatoes with chits).

My main crop potatoes, the blight resistant Sarpo Mira, are just starting to chit now. Main crop spuds are always much slower to develop stalks than the earlies but that doesn't really matter as they have a much longer growing season. The point of the chitting is to get them off to a flying start, much more important for the early potatoes if you want a crop to develop as quickly as possible. (Pic - main crop Sarpo Mira spuds just starting to produce chits).

Well, that's it for this mid-February update. Bye for now.

03 Feb - Early Sowing Update

It's the start of February, I'm counting down the weeks to when the onions and early potatoes can be planted out; for me this is usually the third week of March depending on the weather. The early and main crop potatoes are currently on a cool windowsill chitting away in a seed tray. The earlies are already developing shoots.

As the heated propagator has been on I sowed some flowers yesterday for the summer, sweet peas and nasturtium. Both can be sown late January/February indoors. The sweet peas I usually grow up a few canes at the allotment to attract the bees for pollinating. This year I have half the space so I'm not sure where I'm going to put them. Still, I'll sow them anyway and worry about that later! The nasturtiums end up in the garden where they meander about flowering until the first frosts of late Autumn.

I sowed tomatoes, sweet peppers and leeks in January (post link) and they have all germinated well. They've been taken out of the heated propagator and have been placed on a windowsill in the house. It's too cold yet for them to go in an unheated greenhouse. 

The leeks look like a bad lawn and have a couple of cat paw prints in the seed tray, my female tortoiseshell is chief suspect!

The leeks (Musselburgh) will stay in this seed tray for a few weeks then I'll transplant 30 or so into a deeper container to grow on until they are ready to be planted on the plot in late May. The tomatoes (Alicante) came up really well, a bit of a surprise as the seed was a year past its sow by date and the packet as been open for three years. I sowed what was left in the foil packet and loads of them germinated so I've thinned to three strong seedlings per cell; I'll thin down to one per cell in a week or two. I only want six plants so I should be fine.

The capsicum sweet peppers (Corno di torro rosso) germinated surprisingly fast too. These elongated peppers are new to me; even in a heated propagator my usual variety (California Wonder) often took a month to germinate, these Corno di torro rossa appeared in two weeks. Again, it's far too cold for these seedlings to be in an unheated greenhouse so they are taking up windowsill space as well. They will be potted on into their own containers when the first true leaves appear.

That's it for this early February post. Bye for now.