A quick record of things I’ve sown or potted on this week….
Spring veggies
At the allotment, I sowed parsnips (tender and true), sicilian giant radishes and kohl rabi Azur. There are annual seedlings germinating in the soil in the raised beds now, so it should be warm enough for these to get going.
Green manures
I sowed some Mooli seeds in the bed where the courgettes and squashes will go, as a catch green manure crop between now and when I plant them out in May.
I’ve ordered some green manure seeds online to fill my 2 squash beds, along with the Mooli, so that the soil isn’t left uncovered and there are living roots in the soil for as much of the time as possible, to feed the soil micro-critters. I’ve gone for fast-growing varieties including mustard, fodder radish, phacelia and buckwheat.
The plan is to sow the green manures as a mix, together, as soon as the seeds arrive – their diversity will help feed a good range of soil life, protect the soil surface and add a health dose of organic matter before it’s time to plant the squashes out. I’ll then chop them down, cover them in cardboard and spread rotted manure over the top to block out light and add more organic matter, which the squashes should love.
Hardy annuals in the fruit bed
In the fruit bed, I sowed a mix of hardy annual flower seeds to follow the daffs, tulips and wallflowers:
- Cornflower
- Poppy Black Swan
- Cerinthe Major Purpurascens (aka Honeywort)
- Red Campion
- Gypsophilia
- Ox-Eye Daisy
- Ornamental Carrot
- False Fennel
I’m trying to grow a good range of flowers around the plot, both for pollinators and for cut flowers. I love having flowers mixed in with veggies. I mixed these in with some compost and scattered it around the bulbs and wallflowers, hoping they’ll germinate and start to grow ready to replace the spring flowers later in spring and summer.
I also sowed some cornflower seeds around the edges of a couple of veggie beds.
Tender, hardy and half-hardy flowers at home
At home, I potted on the chilli pepper, aubergine and sweet pepper plants, which are all growing really well having started life under grow lights.
I sowed a few tender perennials, half-hardy annuals and hardy annuals, hopefully for flowers this year:
- Sweet Peas (Onxy, Windsor and Almost Black)
- Petunia
- Scabious Stellata
- Scabious Black Cat
- Rhodochiton
- Nicotiana
- Zinnia Deep Mix
- Sweet Williams
- Wautoma Cucumber
- Amaranthus
- Chocolate Cosmos
- Coleus
I also re-sowed a few tomato Red Alert seeds, as the plants I put out in the growhouse have been damaged by the cold despite the paraffin heater.
Clearing up the garden for spring
In the garden, I spent a few happy hours today:
- clearing away last year’s growth on my ferns, grasses and other herbaceous plants
- moving a few perennial plants around for better spacing and positioning
- sorting out the hot compost bin and emptying the wormery (and applied the lovely compost as a mulch around some of the plants in the garden)
- planting out some new plants (hellebore, edgeworthia, primula all from Wisley last week, plus a Clematis Armandii I grew from a cutting last year)
Keeping the Plot 