Getting the veg going
I seem to be so behind with the veg this year, partly because it has taken so long to get the ground ready. But I finally got there and after a couple of dry weeks that made sowing and planting tricky we had rain forecast so it is time to get those plants in.
I did get the cabbages in last week, despite needing to water them every day just to keep them alive. I am growing a few new ones but these are good old ‘Hispi’.
The lettuce are in too and these first batch are the flabby, butterhead ‘Suzan’, crisp, yummy ‘Sweetheart’ and this lot which are ‘Mortons Secret Mix’ from Real Seeds (www.realseeds.co.uk). It is a mix of unreleased lettuce and it looks really exciting with hardly any two looking the same – and I have planted out more than 100.
The calabrese is showing that ‘purpling’ that means they really want to be planted out but they will be by the time you read this and they will be pushing their roots in to the soil.
I don’t like to plant out the onions until they are well rooted in their cells or they fall apart when planting out but these are just at the right stage. I will plant them in these clumps of two to five seedlings and, once they start to grow will pull some as scallions, leaving one per station to grow into a bulb.
The cauliflowers are just right – which is important because cauliflowers are relatively unforgiving of bad treatment.
The ‘Sweetheart’ lettuce are straining at the bit to get into the garden too but are OK at the moment – I just need to get a move on.
The parsley is looking good too. I had to pull out the last of the parsley last week to make room for everything and to dig the beds so it won’t be long before there will be a new crop.
This one could be a mistake. I have grown it before and vowed I would never bother again but here I am with 36 seedlings of strawberry spinach to plant out. More formally known as Chenopodium capitatum it has leaves that can be eaten as spinach and fruits that look a bit like strawberries (though more like raspberries really) that taste of water. I will have to see if I change my opinion of it!
exciting busy time im also behind on everything but it all seems to catch up
yes. But I always panic!
Great looking seedlings!
Ya, seedlings are looking really healthy. Wishing you all the best.
If you have shady space left in you garden grow these veggies http://balconygardenweb.com/vegetables-for-shady-garden/
Your seedlings look really healthy. How do you classify your soil? Just curious, it ‘looks’ gray but maybe it is just the lighting. 🙂
Thank you. The seedlings shown are all grown in multipurpose compost which is based on peat. The cabbages and other brassicas are in compost that has some loam added. The soil in the garden here is very heavy clay, locally called macamore or more widely marl. It is no coincidence there is a brickworks down the road! The soil had not been dug or had much done to it for many years before I moved to work here in 2013. Since then I have added coarse sand and lots of organic matter and it has improved a lot. It is rather grey in colour and is a glaciated soil – with lots of boulders dumped around.