Little harvests

In the last week I have harvested and eaten my first two crops! First went the broad bean tops. Pinched out, sautéed gently and served on a slice of bread. Second was the turn of the elephant garlic scapes. Given roughly the same treatment as the bean tops. Both were lovely and are the first taste of spring - gone for another year!

Oh! - and I managed to get together enough rocket to garnish a cheese sandwich last week as well.

Hoping for bigger things to come. The weather is still so cold - hardly any growth on anything.

Re-sowings

Chard and spring onions sown outdoors seem reluctant to come up. So I sowed 15 modules of chard and a tray of spring onions Wednesday.

The chard has been in 11 days and the spring onions 15. Maybe I'm too impatient.  But if they are just extra plants they will be welcome anyway.

The chard is in the conservatory and the spring onions in the greenhouse.

This year's fails

1. Courgettes and squashes put out too small and too early. Sowed originally in peat pots which were too small. In future, sow in larger pots and keep them in there longer. Grow bags are not as good as large pots. (Further for snails to climb!) I think I'll keep them indoors until June next year.

2. French beans "Blue Lake" put out too small - slugs and snails got 4 of them. Wait until they are bigger!

3. Rocket - not enough plants in each batch. Sow more at a time so that they can be used when they are young.

4. Despite what they say, broad beans need individual staking. Do it early.

Peppers repotted

The peppers have gone into their final pots.  I used my home made potting mix (50:50 leaf mould and garden compost). Two plants are staying in the conservatory and three have gone to the greenhouse. I'll be comparing the performance of California Wonder with my shop-bought Ramiro seeds.

Planting and potting

On Tuesday my kale was planted out into a bed (6).

The basil was potted up and stays in the conservatory for now, with the module reseeded.

The recent sowings of rocket and mizuna are already up. Just three days!

Two cucamelons were potted up and moved to the greenhouse.

More plants out.

On Saturday I planted the rocket seedlings and the coriander seedlings into the salad bed. The latest set of leaf beet seedlings went into the ground too. And I sowed 2 squares of chard. The modules of rocket and coriander were resown for a later crop, and a module of mizuna was sown. One of the nasturtiums sown into the haybale has come through.

My parsleys were  planted out on Sunday and the module reseeded.

On the flower front, 7 larkspur, 12 cosmos and some catnip were all potted up.

Tomatoes potted

On Monday I potted up 9 tomato plants - 6 for the greenhouse and 3 outdoors. There are 3 each of Black Russian, San Marzano and Gardeners' Delight. One of each is outside, although they had to go in for the night Tuesday night beacuse of a frost forecast.

The spring onions went out into their bed too along with a new sowing oudoors.

The squashes in grow-bags are struggling against snail attacks. I'm trying several different measures - picking them off, copper strips and fleeces so far.

I potted up my one cucumber plant on Tuesday into a 5 inch pot as an intermediate home. It's staying in the conservatory for now.

Squashes all out.

The rest of the squashes and courgettes went out today.  9 into growbags (3 each) and 2 into large containers filled with rough compost and a potting compost topping.

The first vipers bugloss has germinated - just one so far.

The small trays of catnip and valerian have some seedlings showing as well.

Beans out.

 On Monday I planted out my French beans by their supports. I also planted a courgette and a Hunter squash in the haybale. I'm interested to see what happens to them! It's time for some pictures I think.

More seeds up

The marigolds have been up for  few days now and the nasturtiums put in an appearance today. The first two nigella seedlings are up too. And, after giving up on my sowing of cucamelons they came up a couple of days ago. Three out of four germinated. That was about three weeks.

We've moved on to a mild week of weather now so it's probably safe to put more things into the ground. I planted the sweet peas yesterday around an "obelisk" that I've been saving. They may make a good show in the bean bed. I also put up my French bean supports. It's a very sturdy affair this year made from home grown bamboo sticks. The plants may go in tomorrow.