Wednesday 6 March 2013

Planting Out Broad Beans

We've had a bit of sunshine over the last couple of months, but it's been pretty cold - barely above freezing. This week we finally had a warm and sunny day so I took the opportunity to plant out the broad beans.

Broad beans planted out
I sowed 45 Aquadulce Claudia a few months ago. 31 of them had sprouted and were planted out in 2 pairs of rows.  They stayed in the seed trays in an unheated greenhouse all winter. They look pretty good!

They are in the bed that had the potatoes last year - I did plant some leeks here very late and they didn't grow any bigger than blades of grass, so I've pulled them up.

The veggie patch is looking generally ok. Fairly tidy, no major weed problems. The leeks are still small but looking good. We'll dig them up later this month.

The rhubarb is looking good. The big rhubarb has about 8 stalks coming up and the small one nearby is just starting to shoot. Three more small crowns behind the greenhouse have sprouted too - I thought they had all died last year, but it must have been just the cold, wet weather.

I had a quick tidy up in the greenhouse too and sorted out all the seed trays and cell modules. The peas I sowed a few months ago are now about 3in high. The first brassicas I sowed a couple of weeks ago have sprouted.

My seed potatoes are chitting. The onion sets are ready to go in the ground. I need to get a move on! I'll crack on with sowing more seeds this week.