Milk containers to protect my onions

First a couple of points relating to the previous March report. In the photo showing the planting of the onion sets I should have pointed out that the white marker indicated where I had ‘pushed in’ the first of the sets; the other two await being pushed in. All that should show is the very top of the onion.

Secondly, I suggested that you ‘chit’ your potatoes in the dark. That was an ‘old codgers’ tale gleaned from someone who used to put them under his bed to chit! It is really much better to chit in a frost free daylight position as the sprouting ‘chits’ are far stronger. Mine are in a porch; windowsills are a good alternative.

On to today's update now.

The weather is warmer and forecast good so I’ve taken another chance today and planted out the onions I’ve grown from seed, in modules, over winter. They had good roots and were getting too big for the modules.

However, as the SFG is on my exposed allotment I have protected them for a while with cut-off milk containers. These will be removed in a couple of weeks when the onions have hardened off. Note: the container is not yet over the onion in the photo below.

The French beans I sowed last week have germinated and then grown quickly into tall, almost ‘leggy’, plants. It’s too cold to plant them yet, so to establish good roots I’ve planted them on into individual pots.

Do the same for other seedlings as they germinate while waiting for the warmer, frost free, weather. If you have too many seedlings, some plants, like rocket, lettuce, coriander etc could be grown to maturity, two or three to a pot, on the windowsill.