November Carrots

I harvested my first pot of Flakkee Gigante carrots today. It was very successful. A good crop even if they were rather odd shapes! There's one here for the strange vegetable show. But it weighed eight and a half ounces!

Two pounds of carrots  from a ten inch pot is not bad in my book.

Carrots away.

The tomatoes and lettuce have germinated in the conservatory; the leeks and onions are spending their day out in the sun. I sowed two potfuls of Gigante Flakee 2 carrots today. I mixed 50/50 fresh sieved garden compost and last year's spent compost with some blood, fish and bone to add a bit of go. A good sunny day with brimstones, commas and peacocks flying around me. (Carrots up on 30 March)

Both apple tree areas have been mulched with fresh garden compost now. The wood ants were a bit annoyed!

My anemones grown from last year's seed have been opened to the air now. They are progressing well.

Another sunny day!

Lovely weather today. I spent most of it potting and sowing. I potted up seven pepper plants. The one which I overwintered already has two one-inch green peppers on it! I sowed 40 carrots into a trough for outdoor growing, James Scarlet. My earlier sown carrots have gone outdoors as well now. Early pak choy are now potted on in the greenhouse.

Sowing gets going

Today I sowed a good pot of carrots (Gigante Flakkee). The medium was 50/50 leaf mould and Jack's enriched with an ounce or so of blood, fish and bone. And I set about tomato sowing. Five varieties this year: Gardeners' Delight (2yo), Black Russian and San Marzano from last year, with Costoluto Fiorentino and Principe Borghese, both from Seeds of Italy. These were sown in three inch square pots with Jack's compost.

Tomatoes came up between 20th and 22nd March. Carrots started appearing on 27th March.

Salad days

On Monday I planted out my third sowing of rocket and my first of mizuna. I sowed another set of each in the conservatory along with a tray of purslane. I added my outdoor San Marzano and Gardener's Delight tomatoes to the beds too. Black Russian is already in the broad bean bed.

The salad bed is beginning to look productive now but growth is still limited due to the persistent cold weather.

Some of my weakest larkspur have been planted out by the greenhouse along with a border of trailing nasturtiums. Other nasturtiums have been planted out the front on the garage bed and some in pots to trail down the "pillars" in the back garden. One of these pots has some of my white cosmos in as well.

Broad beans, both whole pods and shelled beans, along with carrots and leaf beet in tonight's dinner.

Another warm day

And in the greenhouse first seedlings of basil and coriander are up. In the veggie beds swede and carrot seedlings are up.

The cucamelon seeds have not germinated - so I sowed another 2 pots today, 3 seeds in each. These are in the conservatory in a covered tray.

The second rocket plant is out in the bed, covered by half a tonic bottle.

Big sowing day

Warm weather and things are getting moving. The beetroot are all up in the greenhouse.

Today's sowings:-  Basil 6, Coriander 6, Kale 12, Squashes 3 ea of 3 types, Courgettes 6, Cucumber 1, Cucamelon 2, second sow of Rocket 6.

First outdoor sowings Carrot 1x16 square, Swede 2 x 9 squares.

More carrots

There were five "gaps" in the carrot trough so I resowed those stations today. Try for a full set!

Seedlings

The first carrot seedling was up yesterday in the conservatory and the leek seedlings (below) are growing on!  Also - I sowed 4 sweet pea seeds in pots in the conservatory today. Let's see if they germinate.

Carrots

Carrots sown on Friday 13th! That's tempting fate. Seventeen stations of James Scarlet Intermediate sown in a trough in my conservatory. The trough has a base filling of garden compost, then a layer of New Horizon compost topped off with a sieved layer of New Horizon. Three seeds in each station.

I got a good early crop from this trough last year.