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Sunday 18 April 2010

8 of the 9 squares planted

Since the last entry the weather has generally warmed up but the nights are still cold. The onion bed shows signs of progress; the first photo has all three onion sets shooting well (in foreground) the garlic in the centre making good growth and catching up with the onions grown from seed in the background.


I’m going to take a chance on the weather being kind and plant most of the seedlings today. First beetroot. Most books say that this cannot be transplanted and seeds should be sown in situ. I transplanted some ‘thinnings’ last year and they grew so I’m trying again. When I took off the black covering the ground was weed free and ready for planting. I thought a circle of beetroot might look nice in the centre of a square plot so made some holes with the end of a broom handle, just about 6cm/ 2.5 inches deep and about 8cm/3” apart and filled them with water.


I also watered the seedlings before separating them to avoid damaging the roots.


Keep as much compost around the roots as possible before planting in the hole, holding the seedling by the leaves, and firming the soil around the seedling. This technique is used in all transplanting, with larger plants it used to be known as ‘puddling’.


Next the French beans which I potted up a couple of weeks ago. The photo below shows one seedling planted, a hole ready for the next and a seedling in a pot.


Here I am keeping all the compost in the pot around the roots when I plant. This avoids disturbing the roots and the compost will maintain moisture whilst the plant is growing. Below you can see all six plants in position; this may be a bit crowded but I can always take a couple of plants out later.


The rocket (in round pot) and lettuce seedlings look healthy - see below.


I’ve transplanted the rocket into a block and put the odd seedling in the centre rather than waste it. In the photo below, the seedling at bottom left clearly shows the compost around the root and the water in the hole next to it.


I planted the lettuce in the same way but left a bit more room around and between the seedlings as they will grow laterally as well as up! The photo below shows the seedlings planted and some brown and white stuff around them...


... a bit of an experiment here; slugs and snails love tender young seedlings, especially lettuce, but I don’t want to use slug pellets as I am trying to be organic. The brown stuff is coffee grounds and the white is small angular gravel. I’ve not used coffee before but I’m told that slugs don’t like it so stay away from the plant. They don’t like slithering and sliding over rough gravel either and I used this successfully around runner beans last year. Watch this space to see if either works!

Now I just need to plant the carrot and radish seeds. As the seeds are so small a photo would not show them. I raked the ground to make a fine ‘tilth’, lightly hammering the large lumps of soil with the end of the rake to break them up, then raking again. It’s very easy to plant too many seeds when they are so small so I just put some in one hand and pinch a few with the other fingers trying to scatter them evenly over the SF. I would guess that I’ve put between 30 and 40 seeds in each square. Now rake the square gently to cover the seeds, or cover with a thin layer of compost. I’ll need to keep an eye on these as slugs love germinating seedlings. More on this later.

The photo below shows 8 of the 9 squares planted; the potato will go in later.


The next photo has the slug prevention in place around tender seedlings.


Finally I gently watered the SFG using a sprinkler on my watering can and covered the new seedlings with an old bit of ‘fleece’ I found in the shed to protect plants on cold nights, keep the birds out and moisture in. You could use any old net curtain from a jumble sale rather than buy a whole roll of fleece, try to keep it just above the seedlings. I used milk bottle ‘cloches’ around the French beans to give them a bit of protection from wind and cold. Below you can see how I left the SFG at the end of a good day.


I’ll check the plot every few days and when I feel the plants have established I may remove the fleece. Watch this space for progress. In the meantime I hope your SFG is underway and that it gives you the pleasure and satisfaction mine gives me. It won’t be long before we eat our first salad!

If you’re going to come to the TSA AGM on 21st I may just have a few brassica seedlings to give away (red cabbage, calabrase etc) but you’ll need a bit more space than a SFG!

Thursday 1 April 2010

No, not an April fool, but I would be if planting seeds just now!

We’ve had a cold period since early march so nothing much doing in the SFG. The onions sets and garlic are just showing through and the seedling onions (see photo below) seem to have survived. No sign of the broad bean seedlings yet.


One problem is what to do with the transplanted French Beans, rocket etc. Well, it’s far too cold to plant out tender seedlings so I’m going to keep them growing in their pots, indoors, until it’s warmer. Don’t worry if you haven’t managed to plant anything yet, it’s far better to wait until the ground and air temperatures warm up, then the seeds will germinate quicker and plants grow stronger and faster.

If you’re really bursting to plant something and don’t have a lot of space, how about a small herb garden?

My neighbour’s daughter bought a flexible, circular, plastic container from a supermarket, filled it with a sandy growing medium (from a garden centre) and divided it into six segments for different herbs. This container is indoors but could be outside, in a sunny sheltered place, in a large plastic bag (its own greenhouse), until the weather gets warmer.


The SFG will have to do without me for a couple of weeks, so I’ve asked a friendly neighbour to keep an eye on the seedlings and everything else will have to look after itself...

Have a good Easter break!