Flowers, peppers and peas

I have just sowed:

Amaranthus, Marvel Bronze [T&M]

Amberboa Muricata [T&M]

Two_Sheds' Borage

Two_Sheds' Teasel

Own saved Cerinthe

Own saved Flax Red

Cornflower Dairy Maid [Chocolate fragrance] [T&M]

Dianthus Siberian Blues [Y&M]

i have also pricked out all the peppers and chillis, and into the spare modules I've sown more...and popped the tray into the propagator for a few days to make or break the seeds that haven't germinated yet. Then, I'll prick those out that have germinated and call the others as dead. 

Plus 15 modules of 5 Early Onward pea. That's 75 peas. Must get my pea and bean area at the lottie sorted out. 

Seed pile is not going down...each time I sow some seeds I get another load through the door. This week it was a free magazine for being a Mod on the Vine...with another 10 packs of seeds. I've got to swap some though as I don't even like Aubergine.

Repotting toms and onions/shallots

I've now put all the shallots out; some have gone into modules to start the roots off. I've also moved some Bedfordshire Champion onion seedlings into the modules. 

I've moved all the tomato seedlings into modules so that each one is in a module of its own. 

I'm visiting Piglet Willie tomorrow as he has some spare seedlings, tomato and pepper/chilli. 

Transplanting onions and garlic

I sowed some onion seeds last autumn, and they have been in the garden all winter. They are now nice and sturdy, so today I dug them all up, and transplanted them at the lottie. 

There were also a few random garlics that didn't do much last year, so I have left them in the ground all winter and they were also transplanted. A couple of random shallots also went in. 

Quite a few of the beans that were sown last week are now up and running. 

I build another raised bed at the lottie for all this and we have half filled it with soil, home made compost, coffee ground and a sprinkle of epsom salts. 

Sowing flowers and leeks and onions and carrots

Yesterday I sowed:

A half seed tray of Franchi little white onions [for pickling]

A deep polystyrene container of Long de Mezieres Leek and James Scarlet Carrots

These will all be left outdoors to germinate

Today I sowed in modules: 

Quaking Grass

Nasturtium: Cobra/Empress of India and Mahogany Gleam

Rudbeckia: Cherry Brandy/Rustic Dwarfs

These are on top of the fridge until germination. 

Sowing and repotting and Seed Guardian

On Feb 11th, I sowed some dwarf french beans for an early indoor harvest:

6 x Kinghorn Wax [2-sheds]

6 x Firetongue Borlotti

4 x Yin yang

6 x Yellow dwarf [2-sheds]

2 x Canadian wonder [2-sheds]

They were soaked in water overnight and I checked to them today and most have sprouted. 

Also this week, I got my Seed Guardian list through - so I have opted for:

Wild Pigeon Bean

Stoke Lettuce and 

Longkeeping Tomato

In that order. 

Here's hoping they come through!

Today I also:

sowed 22 Jiffy 7s with a pinch of onions that I will use for spring onions

repotted tomatoes, peppers, coriander, cress and orach

sowed 14 white potato slivers [from shop bought potatoes that had shooted] into Root trainers. 

Heritage Seed Library - Members' Experiments 2009

I received my seeds today for the 'comparing old and new varieties' experiment. 

4 types of tall peas: 

Clarke's Beltony Blue [old - heritage]

Hugh's Huge [heritage]

Simpson's Special [heritage]

Alderman [new - but they mean commercially available]

Sowing and potting on activity [Root day]

Today I sowed more Alliums:

Leek - Long de Mezieres [Real Seeds]

Leek - Early Market [HSL]

Leek - Bleu De Solaise [Real Seeds] - need to save seeds from some of these [SS]

Onion - Mr Allen's Resliance [Heligan] - [SS]

Onion - Up to Date [HSL] - [SS]

Onion - Bedfordshire Champion [ From Finedon Dandy from the Vine]

Onion - North Holland Bloodred Redmate [Suttons]

Onion - The Kelsae [Johnsons] - [SS]

Shallot - Banana [T&M, from Seahorse from the Vine]

Onion - Golden Bear F1 [Robinsons] 

Onion - Mammoth Red Onion [Robinsons] - [SS]

Spring Onion - Elody - [SS]

I also potted on:

3 x Grushovak Toms from the Dec sowings

2 x Gelbe Chilli Peppers

2 x Cobra Nasturtiums

2 x Cerinthe

Sowing [Fruit day]

Yesterday I sowed a range of tomatoes and peppers:

Yellow cherry tomato [self saved, originally grown by Ray Monk and given to me by his lovely wife]

Beef tomato [self saved, from Tesco]

Black Plum [HSL]

Smadar [Chase organics]

Cuore Di Bue [Franchi]

Thai Seeds [Small Blue Planet from the Vine]

French Tomato Flat [self saved from a tom bought in Collioure, S of F]

Broad Ripple Yellow Currant [from Hazel at the Hill from the Vine]

Tigerella [from Two_Sheds from the Vine]

Black Krim [self saved from a plant bought in Draycott Open Gardens 2008]

Costoluto Fiorentino [Real Seeds]

Dragotsennost [Real Seeds]

Millefleur Yellow [Real Seeds]

De Colgar [Real Seeds]

Rio Grande [Franchi]

Grushovka [Real Seeds]

Aurora [Real Seeds]

Reisetomate Pocketbook [Real Seeds]

Amish Paste [Real Seeds]

Purple Ukraine [Real Seeds]

Peppers: 

Jalapeno 

Purple Jalapeno [Small Blue Planet from the Vine]

Trifetti [HSL]

Nardello [HSL]

Hot Cayenne [Fothergills]

Long Red Chilli [self saved but labels got lost last year]

Random chilli [from a Grape]

Albertos Rocoto [Real Seeds]

N Napia Sweet Pointy [Real Seeds]

Sweet Chocolate [Real Seeds]

Westlandse Lange Rode [Real Seeds

Purple Tiger [from a grape]

Gelbe Kirshen Chilli [Real Seeds]

Dedo De Mocha Sweet Aji [Real Seeds]

Pretty in purple [Real Seeds]

Purple Venezuelian [Real Seeds]

Bolivian Rainbow [Real Seeds]

Large Sweet Spanish Chilli [from a Grape]

Peppadew [from Tricia]

Ramiro [self saved from Tesco]

3 of each in each module

Snow

Just popped out to take some photos of the garden in the snow - we don't often get snow here so it's a novelty. Took some dull photos, but this one of Gollum and some garlics...

Seed Saving

I saw this idea a while back, and as I'm going to be saving seeds all over the garden and allotment, I wanted something to show my over-enthusiastic puller upper of plants [AKA Mark] that I was letting seed heads die on plants for a reason. So, I've collected stones when I've been out and about [these came from Cornwall last October], and the odd bit of driftwood, and I painted them up last weekend to assist the seed saving cause. 

Garden and Allotment Layout 2009

Garden layout for 2009 [canal at bottom of image]

Lottie layout for 2009