Amazing ! 22.04.07

7 Days of sunshine and the garden looks very different.

Trees and shrubs have come to life - as if someone has just flicked a switch! My Silver Birch is gloriously regailed in fresh leaves, casting shadows across the lawn.

As for the veggies, i'm not sure where to start:

After my seed sowing last weekend, I now have 2 rows of healthy looking Radish shoots, which appeared Thursday morning. I will have to thin them out as I was a tad too eager with the seeds!

The Parsnips are now well established in the bed, 5 out of 6 plants going strong. I'll have to wait and see if the 6th is going to grow on.






Having marked the Runner Bean canes with a permanent marker pen, I can clearly and easily measure a good 6" of growth on these, very promising considering the very early planting. I think it was worth a gamble on the weather, but we're still not out of the woods just yet regarding the chance of a late frost. Successional indoor seed sowing last Monday has allayed any fears of losing a plant or 2 to frost. In the past where I've lost plants to frost, i simply cut them off at the base - leaving the nutrient rich root in place - and replant in the same position.

The Peas are coming on in leaps and bounds, at last count I had 14 out of 18 seed germinated, with about 2cm growth on each seedling.
Job for today will be erecting Pea sticks to support the growing plants. I hope to get away with not using netting but if needs be i will cobble something together.

Both rows of early spuds are flourishing. Photo shows the tremendous growth rate - compared to last week - which surprises me every morning as i water them, before leaving for work. The 3rd bed I prepared for the maincrop is still getting hoed on a regular basis, in an effort to thwart any weed growth. It seems to be working and there is now a finer tilth on the surface. This weekend I will rake in some powdered fertilizer as a last dressing, prior to planting these out next weekend. ( Windy - watch your postbag - I may have some spares ).

Indoors is busy too. I have 6 strong toms ( v. Money Maker) which I've moved to 3.5" pots from the seed trays. Watering the drip trays and not the plants, and they look very healthy. Next step on the toms is to plant some Gardeners Delight seeds, for a slightly later cropping.

Pumpkin plants are now well developed and will be moved to larger planters for final growing. These plants will be staying in the conservatory till well after the last frosts, as they are in no way hardy. Plan is to grow one fruit per plant, to try and maximise the fruit size in time for halloween.

I've potted on some Cineraria Silver Dust, 4 seedlings per 3" square pot. I intend these to act as low maintenance ground cover for the front garden, which is mainly ( unfortunately) paving slabs and concrete driveway. What little border space I have is well overgrown and in need of some tlc.

More seedlings to pot on include loads of Forget me not that are bursting from their seed trays.

Also need to prepare ground and plant out my latest additions of Gooseberry & Blackcurrant bushes that I purchased in the week.

All in all, its been a busy yet productive week. Hope you enjoyed the update. Keep the emails coming and post your comments too. Its always nice to hear from fellow enthusiasts.

TTFN.