Today I will mostly be growing

Last week we endured the gale force winds and heavy rains, of which my mini greenhouse door snapped under the force of the wind and is currently being propped up. The heavy rain however did seem to help my peas, broad beans and cabbages put on a spurt of growth. I did manage to transplant a few of the tomato and calabrese seedlings that survived the onslaught of the weather and my clumsy handling.

I also couldn’t wait and sowed the rest of my tomato seeds last week and bought some more cucumber seeds (variety: marketmore) and sowed them as well.
Somehow in the wind I managed to tip up my tray of pepper seedlings, however I have saved most of them and sowed some more just in case the current ones don’t survive!

This weekend the wintery weather has continued with heavy snow showers here in Essex, it did settle briefly on my broad beans and then turned to slush.

Update on Raised Beds on Week 6

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Sowing seeds in the month of February is all new to me and I’m learning the hard way at the moment.

Outdoor Seeds
On 9th February I thought I would get a head start on the season hoping to having tomatos and carrots earlier in the year by sowing a few rows in my raised beds. However the frost and fog descended and now 2 weeks on I have no change in my raised beds and I don’t blame my seeds for not popping their heads above the surface in last weeks night temperatures.

Indoor Seeds
On the upside my seedlings have shot up and almost everything has germinated apart from the Sweet Pepper (romano). Mid week they were brought into the house due to the frosty temperatures and this has definately helped them germinate. See pictures below for updates. Today I have returned them to the mini-greenhouse otherwise they will get too ‘leggy’ (stems will grow too long and fall over), they need cool temperatures and high light levels outside to continue their growth. (more…)