We had another sunny spell this afternoon, so squelched down the garden to sow some seeds in the greenhouse. As usual, seeds are sown in cell modules in seed trays.
4 Tomato Gardeners Delight
4 Tomato Belle
4 Tomato Sungold
4 Tomato Alicante
8 Sweet Pepper
8 Broccoli Summer Purple
8 Cauliflower All Year Round
8 Lettuce Winter Gem
10 Leeks Autumn Mammoth in a Morrisons bucket
I only had 10 leek seeds out of that pack of 150 seeds. The missus must have sown about 140 seeds into 2 large pots last year - that would have left them very crowded and not able to thicken up. The extra spacing this year should help.
I have a long plastic tunnel cloche - it was a bargain in the garden centre clearance last autumn. I'll probably set that up for the brassicas once I've cleared a bit of ground and tidied up.
Next job on the list is to sort the rest of the seeds so that I can so more soon!
Showing posts with label leek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leek. Show all posts
Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Sunday, 27 January 2013
What's Growing, What's Not
I've had a quick trip to the veggie patch - some good news, some not so good.
The peas from Grow Your Own magazine have sprouted. All of them! Yep, a whole 14 seeds in one packet.
As there were so few of them, I sowed them in a 10in pot. As the mice scoffed all my peas, sweetcorn and beans last year, I covered the pot with a propagator lid to try and keep the mice out. It seems to have worked.
Using a propagator lid meant that I had to keep the pot in the greenhouse for the winter, otherwise the lid would have just blown off outdoors.
Propagator lids also worked with the broad beans. We have 31 of them and another one sprouting.
I had actually sown 45 of them, so this isn't a bad result. I'll get them planted out soon.
There were actually 4 seed trays of onions. They've sprouted, but gone a bit soft. I have no idea if they'll survive or not, but might as well try, nothing to lose except a bit of time.
What hasn't worked so well is the garlic - all the elephant garlic planted outside in tubs have been pulled up and the green shoots have been eaten. I had also planted 2 large tubs of ordinary garlic and left them in the greenhouse. There were probably 15-20 cloves planted. Only 3 have survived - the rest have been pulled up - there are bits of roots left that show where the cloves were. I'll plant some more. I don't know if we'll get enough cold nights for it to split, but if all we end up with is rounds, that's fine - it's still usable!
Leeks are "ok". The big ones are about half an inch thick. The small ones are still like blades of grass. This is the first time I've grown leeks beyond the "blade of grass" stage. I sowed them too thickly in pots so they were too crowded to thicken up, and planted them out far too late to grow to full size. But I'm happy to have leeks and we'll use them.
I've also learnt a good lesson about growing leeks and potatoes. This year I'll grow early spuds in the ground so that I dig them up in summer and plant the leeks out earlier. I'll also sow the leeks thinner so they have room to thicken up.
And the first rhubarb is sprouting. Won't be long till we get our first rhubarb crumble this year!
The peas from Grow Your Own magazine have sprouted. All of them! Yep, a whole 14 seeds in one packet.
 |
| Peas, free from Grow Your Own magazine |
Using a propagator lid meant that I had to keep the pot in the greenhouse for the winter, otherwise the lid would have just blown off outdoors.
Propagator lids also worked with the broad beans. We have 31 of them and another one sprouting.
 |
| Aquadulce Claudia |
I had actually sown 45 of them, so this isn't a bad result. I'll get them planted out soon.
 |
| Onion sets in seed trays |
What hasn't worked so well is the garlic - all the elephant garlic planted outside in tubs have been pulled up and the green shoots have been eaten. I had also planted 2 large tubs of ordinary garlic and left them in the greenhouse. There were probably 15-20 cloves planted. Only 3 have survived - the rest have been pulled up - there are bits of roots left that show where the cloves were. I'll plant some more. I don't know if we'll get enough cold nights for it to split, but if all we end up with is rounds, that's fine - it's still usable!
Leeks are "ok". The big ones are about half an inch thick. The small ones are still like blades of grass. This is the first time I've grown leeks beyond the "blade of grass" stage. I sowed them too thickly in pots so they were too crowded to thicken up, and planted them out far too late to grow to full size. But I'm happy to have leeks and we'll use them.
I've also learnt a good lesson about growing leeks and potatoes. This year I'll grow early spuds in the ground so that I dig them up in summer and plant the leeks out earlier. I'll also sow the leeks thinner so they have room to thicken up.
And the first rhubarb is sprouting. Won't be long till we get our first rhubarb crumble this year!
Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Transplanting Leeks
We started our leeks in medium sized pots - about 6-8in pots. Just a pot full of compost, sprinkle the seeds, hope for the best. Each pot is now packed with baby leeks, so we're very happy.
The leeks will go in the potato bed once I've dug up the potatoes, but the potato foliage has only just started to die off. That means I won't be planting out for a good few weeks yet. The pots are far too crowded for the leeks to thicken up.
After pulling up some carrots, I had two deep troughs empty. We have a lot of large 12in pots spare now that we've destroyed the blighted tomato plants. I've decided to temporarily transplant the leeks into these pots and troughs. This will give them room to grow properly for a couple of months and then I can transplant some to their final positions in the ground.
I've seen some people trimming the roots and top-growth on their leeks, but I've also seen others not trimming. I've definitely seen a video on YouTube of Monty Don planting out without trimming and pretty sure I've seen a video of him trimming the leeks too.
I spent a while reading up on whether to trim the roots or not, and the pros and cons of trimming or not. It seems that that only reason to trim the roots is to make planting easier - as we're dropping them in to holes, a bundle of roots just gets in the way. However, if the hole is big enough, it should be easy to twist the leeks as we lower them into the hole, thereby twisting the roots.
I decided that as our leeks are still very small, I would prefer not to trim the roots. If roots are trimmed, the leeks (as with all aliums) will grow new roots. Trimming the roots might slow down growth as it's putting more energy into growing new roots than in to growing the leek. This shouldn't normally be a problem, but we've had really poor weather this year, so the leeks are a lot smaller than they normally would be at this time of year.
I separated the Musselburgh leeks and planted them into the deep troughs. I made holes about 3in deep just using my finger - there's no point making the holes any bigger at this time. I planted out 90 leeks in total. They were a bit fiddly with the roots there.
The Bandit leeks are being transplanted into the 12in tomato pots, 9 per pot. I've decided to trim the roots on some, and not on others. Apparently if we trim the roots, we should also trim the leaves back, so I've done that too. 63 done so far, plenty more to do later.
The Autumn Giant leeks are looking good, but I haven't touched them yet. Probably a job for this evening ....
The leeks will go in the potato bed once I've dug up the potatoes, but the potato foliage has only just started to die off. That means I won't be planting out for a good few weeks yet. The pots are far too crowded for the leeks to thicken up.
After pulling up some carrots, I had two deep troughs empty. We have a lot of large 12in pots spare now that we've destroyed the blighted tomato plants. I've decided to temporarily transplant the leeks into these pots and troughs. This will give them room to grow properly for a couple of months and then I can transplant some to their final positions in the ground.
I've seen some people trimming the roots and top-growth on their leeks, but I've also seen others not trimming. I've definitely seen a video on YouTube of Monty Don planting out without trimming and pretty sure I've seen a video of him trimming the leeks too.
I spent a while reading up on whether to trim the roots or not, and the pros and cons of trimming or not. It seems that that only reason to trim the roots is to make planting easier - as we're dropping them in to holes, a bundle of roots just gets in the way. However, if the hole is big enough, it should be easy to twist the leeks as we lower them into the hole, thereby twisting the roots.
I decided that as our leeks are still very small, I would prefer not to trim the roots. If roots are trimmed, the leeks (as with all aliums) will grow new roots. Trimming the roots might slow down growth as it's putting more energy into growing new roots than in to growing the leek. This shouldn't normally be a problem, but we've had really poor weather this year, so the leeks are a lot smaller than they normally would be at this time of year.
I separated the Musselburgh leeks and planted them into the deep troughs. I made holes about 3in deep just using my finger - there's no point making the holes any bigger at this time. I planted out 90 leeks in total. They were a bit fiddly with the roots there.
The Bandit leeks are being transplanted into the 12in tomato pots, 9 per pot. I've decided to trim the roots on some, and not on others. Apparently if we trim the roots, we should also trim the leaves back, so I've done that too. 63 done so far, plenty more to do later.
The Autumn Giant leeks are looking good, but I haven't touched them yet. Probably a job for this evening ....
Sunday, 11 March 2012
More Sowings
I love this time of year: the sun starts shining, seeds start sprouting, I try to keep up with digging, the sowings and potting on and planting out ....
Lots of seeds are sprouting in the greenhouse - all the cauliflowers have started, some spinach, a couple of cucumbers etc.
This weekend we've sown:
8 Tomato Golden Sunrise
8 Tomato White Cherry
8 Tomato Roma
8 Tomato Harbinger
8 Tomato Pomodoro
8 Tomato Tigrella
19 Sweetcorn Sweet Bounty
8 Pak Choi Rubi
8 Lettuce Mixed Salad Leaves
4 Aubergine Black Beauty
4 Pepper Hot Caribbean Blend
4 Pepper Heatwave
4 Pepper Inferno
4 Chilli Cayenne
4 Chilli Hot Stuff
4 Chilli Twightlight
Large pot Leek Bandit
2 large pots Leek Musselburgh
1 half size seed tray Lambs Lettuce
Small trough Beetroot Boltardy
Large trough Carrot Chantenay Red
Small trough Carrot Purple Haze
Small trough Carrot Charlemagne
2 small troughs Carrot Autumn King 2
24 Red Cabbage Kalibos
8 Cauliflower Violetta
16 Cauliflower All Year Round
24 Kale Dwarf Green Curled
4 Sweet Pepper Jumbo
20 Sweet Pepper WorldBeater
1 Ginger root into an 8inch pot
Phew!
Lots of seeds are sprouting in the greenhouse - all the cauliflowers have started, some spinach, a couple of cucumbers etc.
This weekend we've sown:
8 Tomato Golden Sunrise
8 Tomato White Cherry
8 Tomato Roma
8 Tomato Harbinger
8 Tomato Pomodoro
8 Tomato Tigrella
19 Sweetcorn Sweet Bounty
8 Pak Choi Rubi
8 Lettuce Mixed Salad Leaves
4 Aubergine Black Beauty
4 Pepper Hot Caribbean Blend
4 Pepper Heatwave
4 Pepper Inferno
4 Chilli Cayenne
4 Chilli Hot Stuff
4 Chilli Twightlight
Large pot Leek Bandit
2 large pots Leek Musselburgh
1 half size seed tray Lambs Lettuce
Small trough Beetroot Boltardy
Large trough Carrot Chantenay Red
Small trough Carrot Purple Haze
Small trough Carrot Charlemagne
2 small troughs Carrot Autumn King 2
24 Red Cabbage Kalibos
8 Cauliflower Violetta
16 Cauliflower All Year Round
24 Kale Dwarf Green Curled
4 Sweet Pepper Jumbo
20 Sweet Pepper WorldBeater
1 Ginger root into an 8inch pot
Phew!
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