Sunny day in the garden

Yay! the sun came out so I was able to get out in to the garden and feel like I might be making some kind of progress out there. While, it still feels far too cold to be planting a lot of my seeds, I can't bear that the year is getting away from me - especially as the clocks change tonight. Despite the fact that I am sure that anything I plant in two or three weeks time will easily catch up with anything I planted today, I still wanted to feel like I might be on the way to some produce from the garden this summer.

I moved about a tonne of soil from a strange and rather random mound, where the small greenhouse is due to go, over to the raised beds in front of the big greenhouse. There are about four such mounds of soil in various places round the garden - its unclear why they are there or what they came from - but the ground needs to be flattened, and the beds need to be raised.

Into the bed on the left I've planted Sutherland Kale, San Marzano Turnip Broccoli, Touchstone Gold Beetroot, Dragon Purple Carrot, Triple Purple Orach, Red Flowered  Broad Bean and Martock Broad Beans.

I started to put up the pea netting on the bed on the right, and couldn't manage to get the canes into the ground beyond four inches - I found yet another set of paving slabs - what on earth were the previous owners doing? Fortunately there were only four of them and I was able to get them out very quickly.  Once the pea netting was in I planted Purple Podded Peas in the bed. This is a variety that grows to about 2 metres in height and I've had heavy yields in previous years so I've put tall poles in to try to maximise the yield.

I also planted more in the greenhouse - its so large I have a horrible feeling I am getting carried away planting things and won't have enough space in the garden when things have to be moved outside - but I'll deal with that when it arises. I've planted Asparagus Peas, Black Forest and Genovese Courgettes,  Mixed Squash Jaune de Poitou and Bleu de Solaise Leeks, Kailaan Chinese Stem Broccoli  and Giant Prague Celeriac.

Of the things I have planted in the greenhouse so far, only the peas have germinated - I don't blame the rest, its still far too cold for any plant to want to even venture out of the soil. Even the hop has not put up any shoots yet.

When clearing out the small greenhouse (moved from the old house and in the process of being erected) I found quite a few seed packets with a few seeds left over and some home-saved seeds as well. Rather than compost them I thought it would be worth seeing if any of them would germinate - so I've also planted a load of home-saved sunflowers and beans (dwarf, runner and french varieties) from 2011,  and some courgettes (lebanese, de nice, scallop, patty pan, black forest and golden zucchini), and dwarf purple and yellow climbing beans. I doubt any of them will grow but its worth a try - especially as the beans are all good tasting varieties.

Until then however I have to content myself with feeling that I am making progress, so a comparison between the garden when we first got started, and now is in order:

23rd February 2013

30th March 2013