The sun has got her hat on, at last!
It was a glorious day today - a few cloudy moments, but lots of sunshine and very warm. What a lovely change from the miserable weather we've had lately! So of course we spent the morning at the farm - and would almost certainly have spent longer if we hadn't got other commitments in the afternoon.
At home, first, it's all looking great. The melissa is popping up all over the pot, and there are now 14 strong little seedlings in the borage pot (no sign of the others yet, but it's still early days!) The dwarf beans (Delinel) have just started with just one showing so far. All the seedlings look good and there are 14 seedlings (so far) from the second sowing of asparagus. I started hardening off the peppers today as well.
I took the first sowing of asparagus to the farm today and potted it up into 4"-5" pots to grown on there. I also took the module tray of mangetout, planted out the bigger ones and left the rest to grown on a bit. The asparagus had grown outdoors, the mangetout hadn't (and hasn't been hardened off) so I'm just keeping fingers crossed that I haven't butchered those! The forecast looks OK for the next 5 days with no chilly nights expected so I feel reasonably confident that it will survive.
The tomatoes at the farm also had a bit of tackling today. I divided the margarine tub full of money maker plants (all about 8" high!) into 8 clumps of about 5-6 plants and potted these into 4" pots. Separating them much more than this would have been a nightmare! So we'll see how they go, how many survive and decide in a week or two whether to thin, divide further, repot, plant out, or what... Next-But-One Guy might take one or two off our hands. The guy who has just taken on the (half?) plot next to ours has got tomatoes but they are still tiny so he might take one or two as well if we ask him.
In other news, we did a little hoeing, watered the new plantings, the comfrey and the marigold / mint boxes, pinched a bit more mint, did a slug hunt along the bricks and E planted out some swede and beetroot. We had a bit of a conflab on what else we've got to plant and where to put it so there is something like a plan for the remaining areas on the plot now. We also *really* need a chicken-proof fence!
And finally, breakfast today was farm eggs with farm cabbage and garden herbs (not harvested today) and I took some salad leaves to go on a pizza for dinner. The first sowing of salad is starting to run out, so I hope the next lot will be ready soon - and I must get and sow some more, too!
At home, first, it's all looking great. The melissa is popping up all over the pot, and there are now 14 strong little seedlings in the borage pot (no sign of the others yet, but it's still early days!) The dwarf beans (Delinel) have just started with just one showing so far. All the seedlings look good and there are 14 seedlings (so far) from the second sowing of asparagus. I started hardening off the peppers today as well.
I took the first sowing of asparagus to the farm today and potted it up into 4"-5" pots to grown on there. I also took the module tray of mangetout, planted out the bigger ones and left the rest to grown on a bit. The asparagus had grown outdoors, the mangetout hadn't (and hasn't been hardened off) so I'm just keeping fingers crossed that I haven't butchered those! The forecast looks OK for the next 5 days with no chilly nights expected so I feel reasonably confident that it will survive.
The tomatoes at the farm also had a bit of tackling today. I divided the margarine tub full of money maker plants (all about 8" high!) into 8 clumps of about 5-6 plants and potted these into 4" pots. Separating them much more than this would have been a nightmare! So we'll see how they go, how many survive and decide in a week or two whether to thin, divide further, repot, plant out, or what... Next-But-One Guy might take one or two off our hands. The guy who has just taken on the (half?) plot next to ours has got tomatoes but they are still tiny so he might take one or two as well if we ask him.
In other news, we did a little hoeing, watered the new plantings, the comfrey and the marigold / mint boxes, pinched a bit more mint, did a slug hunt along the bricks and E planted out some swede and beetroot. We had a bit of a conflab on what else we've got to plant and where to put it so there is something like a plan for the remaining areas on the plot now. We also *really* need a chicken-proof fence!
And finally, breakfast today was farm eggs with farm cabbage and garden herbs (not harvested today) and I took some salad leaves to go on a pizza for dinner. The first sowing of salad is starting to run out, so I hope the next lot will be ready soon - and I must get and sow some more, too!