Weather is not on our side this year. It’s more like early April than May, cold and showery. We often avoid the frosts here due to being near the sea but even so, things are slow. My back is slowing me down as well. It’s disheartening when you just can’t do things that you normally can.
Sweetcorn showing in the pots in the greenhouse, ready to plant out now.
Sweetcorn
The Earlibird sweetcorn in pots in the greenhouse is showing well. They can be planted out in the polytunnel later in the week. I’ll get about 18 plants in there, the rest for outside in the walled veg garden. Started chitting a packet of Swift inside, also for the walled veg garden.
Ideally you shouldn’t grow 2 varieties of sweetcorn too near to each other as they can cross-pollinate and the cobs may not be as sweet as usual for the variety. However, I’ll space them as best I can away from each other in their blocks. Growing Sweetcorn
Climbing Beans
Sowed Cobra climbing French beans which are destined for the polytunnel along with Painted Lady runner beans and Kentucky pole beans for outside. All in root trainers. They’re getting some bottom heat to take the compost temperature up to 20ºC. This should give optimum germination.
More Brassicas
Sowed more brassicas; Galleon and Violleto cauliflowers, more Hispi and some Durham Early cabbages. The Durham Early are an old pack I found. Not expecting a high germination rate but if I get half a dozen, I’ll count it a good win. Not the ideal time to sow them either, but at worst the chickens get a feed. All the brassicas have just been sowed in half-size seed trays. This should give me some continuity of supply and any surplus can be converted into eggs by the hens.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes doing well in the polytunnel, potted up a Honeycomb, Sungold and Grusholvka for my daughter to grow in her garden. Nothing beats ‘fresh from the vine’ tomatoes on a summer’s day. I’ll bring them on until June under cover and then they should be good to go outside. Her climate is a little more conducive to outdoor tomatoes with a sheltered garden that’s 400 feet lower in elevation.
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