Growing your own: season 2017
A lot of my knowledge of growing flowers and vegetables comes from the experience of my old mates, country born and bred and at best described as "old characters" sadly none are any longer here, but my memories of them live on!
22nd January: sown today in the electric propagator up in the greenhouse, 4 varieties of tomato,2 varieties of sweet pepper, a pinch of lettuce and a pinch of a "hispi" type cabbage.
23rd January: Sowed the first sowings of leeks.
28th January: have seen that the lettuce and hispi type cabbage have germinated.
29th January; sowed 2nd batch of leeks, a box of onions (Bedfordshire champion) and cells of spring onion.
2nd February; my first sowings of lettuce and early cabbage are being pricked out into trays and a first sowing of summer leeks was made today.
8th February: The tomatos have been pricked out into 3" pots
14th February: another pinch of lettuce and cabbage sown and the last of the tomatos have been pricked out.
16th February: At long last after a lot of confusion about my (and others) seed potato order I finally got my seed potatos in their boxes ready to start the chitting process. Ideally they should have been acquired at least a month ago , I have found a new source for seed potatos and as from next year my custom will be with them.
18th February: working in the polytunnel today and sowed early beetroot and carrots.
!9th February: Sowed broad beans in paper pots in the greenhouse.
20th February: A nice fine day so, after planting a large bay bush and moving a fern
in the garden, gave the new lawn its first cut of the year.
24th February: transplanted my sweet peppers into 3" pots, sowed some night scented stock and cornflowers into nodules, cultivator has been serviced and is all ready to start work.
6th March: ran the cultivator over undug ground.
7th march : planting shallots.
8th march: potting up cucumber and courgette seedlings , planting garlic cloves in the green house in pots.
9th march; planting onion sets.
10th march: pricking out cauliflower seedlings into trays (20 to a tray ) Moved lettuce plants to cold frame for hardening off.
11th March: Planting spring onion seedlings and lettuce plants in the polytunnel.
12th March: planted 2 rows of red onion sets and in the green house pricked out 3 boxes of flowers, then gave the flower beds a fork over.
13th March: A lovely early spring day so I planted 2 rows of early potatos (formost)
took a tray of summer leeks and atray of early cabbage to the cold frame to harden off.
14th March: moved pots planted with garlic cloves up to the cold frame,and not before time ..a clean up of the allotment shed, back home, planted a clematis "Princess kate"
21st March: potting up my tomatos into 6" pots.
25th March: planted out "Hispi" type cabbages and garlic
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