Beans are out

I planted out the Hestia beans today. Only 2 of the Boby Bianco were good enough to go out with them. (left)

And five of the Meraviglia di Venezia have gone into a large pot with the obelisk to climb up. (right)

The other one has gone into the leek bed with a spiral stake to climb on. (It got eaten by slug/snails!)

The garlic chives are potted up now and sitting outside and the first two lovage are potted too.

Boby Bianco beans

Of the 10 Boby Bianco sown only three came up and one of those does not look good. So I sowed another 6 today in toilet rolls again. The 7 which did not come up had rotted. Why? Too wet? Too cold? 9/10 Hestia and 6/6 Meraviglia di Venezia came up in the same conditions. Those appear to be doing well now, hardening off outside in the daytime.

Potted tomatoes

I potted up 12 tomato plants today. 6 are in the greenhouse, 3 by the summerhouse and 3 around the conservatory. All were potted very deep with lower leaves removed.

Basil plants are growing well. I removed all the tops today to make them bush out.

It was sunny and all the bean plants had a day outside, hardening off.

Beans are started

Last week of April. Sow beans my calendar said. So I did. 10 Hestia, dwarf runners; 10 Boby Bianco, dwarf French beans and 6 Meraviglia di Venezia, climbing French beans. They all went into the conservatory and the Hestia are up today. (The others followed in the next couple of days.)

I planted one tomato Principe Borghese out in the plot three days ago and a couple of purple basils went out next to it today. Six garlic chives were potted up, one gardeners' delight tomato went out in a pot next to the conservatory today and one Verde d'Italia courgette went into the squash bed. Broad beans are just beginning to appear and the apples have an enormous amount of flower just opening.

I bought two cucumber plants this week and potted them up into small pots in the greenhouse. Pak choy and salad greens have gone out into the shady plot and chard seedlings are just showing.

Preparations

Today I prepared a bed for next season's squashes. I broke up the one year old haybale within a cage. Mixed in were some of the old squash plants, some used compost from pots and some grass clippings. A layer of composted horse manure went over this. Finally a thick layer of "rough" garden compost. The whole was covered with black plastic sheets to keep the worst of the winter weather off. In the spring I will top it off with some good medium (Maybe leaf mould and sieved garden compost?) The squashes must not go out so early next year. Perhaps a couple of bean plants can join them?

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.

Beetroot in bed

I planted the betroot seedlings into their bed yesterday.

6 sweet peas are getting daily outings to harden off now and my French beans are getting the same treatment. Days are very warm but nights are still really cold.

The conservatory varies from 38º down to 10º and the greenhouse from 30º to about 6º.

Squash and beans

The squashes were all up yesterday in the conservatory and the French beans (at last!) made an appearance. I moved them to the conservatory about a week ago to give them more warmth. It took 24 days for them to show.

The first rocket (just 1!) went into the ground on Tuesday covered by a top half of a tonic bottle.

Get sowing.

Yesterday I sowed some more veg. 6 modules of parsley in conservatory; 10 toilet roll halves for beetroot in greenhouse and 16 French beans in whole toilet rolls, 9 purple, 7 green, seed saved from last year's plants. All in J.I. seed compost.

I also moved the leeks to the garden, under the large plastic cover, along with the one sweet pea.