Seed sowing fest

Got up ridiculously early today thanks to OH who took someone to the airport at 05.45 and was not at all quiet when he was getting ready. Cleaned kitchen, cleaned fridge out & hung washing out, then hot footed it to recycling centre to pick up another load of council compost. Got halfway through unloading it & the rain came - retreated into the greenhouse & potted on the rest of the tomatoes. Also sowed some more lettuce (Webb's Wonder), leeks (Pandora & Musselburgh), sweetcorn (Sundance), poached egg plant, butternut squash & courgettes (Zuchini, All Green Bush & Romanesco). By the time I had done all this, the greenhouse looked like a seedling factory & the rain had stopped.

So ventured outside and watered the raspberries - these are the ones I dug up from under the shed & they are nearly all sprouting. I am not exactly sure that they are actually raspberries & might be blackberries - time will tell.....

The strawberries have started to flower & I am looking forward to eating some with cream..... Mmmmmm

The Apple tree I recently planted has just started to flower & what a lovely colour!

The last thing I did today was build the bean frame. I have put enough canes in for 10 runner beans & 10 climbing french beans. We all love beans so if I think I need more I can always put a wigwam up for them.

Of course Buddy had to make sure he was in the photo!

Greenhouse

I have had such a busy few days at the plot but am feeling very proud of what I have achieved.

It was pretty overcast this morning and threatening to rain, but I went to the plot anyway and typically, not long after I arrived it started to rain - and it was not the drizzle that had been forecast - it threw it down. Managed to sow some perpetual spinach in between the broad beans in small bed 3, cover them with cloches before the rain & once it had started I decided to retreat to the greenhouse where I could remain dry.

I sowed shallots (red sun) and onions (stutgarter giant) into modules. I also sowed beetroot (boltardy) into modules in clusters as per Monty Don on Gardener's World....If it is good enough for him then it's good enough for me!

I then sowed some Kale (nero di toscana), Broccoli (early purple sprouting), cabbage, and some flowers - stock, cosmos & more sweet peas. The greenhouse is starting to look like a veritable seedling factory!

The rest of my seedlings are doing well. All of them are making steady progress.

Once I had finished all the sowing, the sun had come out again and I got on & planted all the strawberry plants (Elsanta) that I bought from B&Q. I did not quite have enough plants to fill the bed, butI will fill in the gaps using runners over the next year.