The weather was lovely and warm last week with temperatures higher than normal with the thermometers hitting 17 degrees on Friday 4th April 2008, I was happy thinking my seeds will finally get underway with their growing, until today Sunday 6th April where the temperatures dropped off the scale at a frustrating minus 2 degrees centigrade.
Heres a picture of my snowy vegetable plot:
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April 6, 2008
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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March 23, 2008
I had a slight accident with my seedlings in the modules in the mini greenhouse. I was reading a forum message on GYO Grapevine about encouraging your seedlings to grow 2 true pairs of leaves (so you can transplant them) as mine still only have their 1st pair of leaves. It said if you put a piece of white card behind your seedlings it can bounce the light towards them, which can only be a good thing.
However I improvised as I didn’t have any white card and opted for the flat underside of my polystyrene pot tray which I propped up behind the seed tray. It seemed ok until yesterday when I realised I couldn’t actually see my seedings anymore as they were underneath the tray, it had toppled over and flattened my seedlings!
However I think I may be able to salvage most tomato and 1 cucumber seeding and luckily my pepper seeds are only just breaking the surface so they have been saved from bended stems. The calabrese seedlings had gone a bit leggy so I think I will scrap them and try again with another batch anyway.
Here’s a current picture of the worse for wear looking seedlings:
(See below for closeup pictures)
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March 9, 2008
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…)
February 24, 2008
Spring has sprung in our garden and this year I’m determined to get some early crops started. I have read on the internet this is sometimes a risky strategy to start sowing this early in February due to there possibly being more frosts before March. However the sun is shining and I feel I have enough seed in my packets to start some off to see how they go. Its all about trial and error after all. (more…)
February 10, 2008
