Well, this current unexpected cold snap has pushed things back a week or two in the garden, as I would normally be thinking about planting out my sweet peas, beans, and putting out the summer bedding plants to harden off before planting, but that will have to wait now. But that is the fun of gardening.
So I have been busy in my greenhouse, garden room, and have recently (re)acquired the use of some of the conservatory, with permission from the boss of course!! That means I have been planting on a lot of my plants into bigger pots. I planted some ammi majus and calendula bullseye on 3rd March into a 12inch tray, and they have grown well. I have therefore been planting them up into individual pots. Photo 1 shows the ammi majus and calendula bullseye before planting into pots, and photo 2 shows them in pots. I used about a quarter of a seed packet in both cases, getting about 15 healthy plants of each. I have also done the same with monarda panorama, marigold French fancy, and little gem/lollo rosso lettuce. There is still a couple of beds to prepare, using compost from my hot bins (makes great compost in 6 months in the winter, 3 in the summer, so I have 3 of them), and organic chicken manure. Also, as there has been very little rain, I have been watering the seeds in the raised beds, and larger plants in pots. Once we are into May, I will hook up my automatic watering system.
But once the cold snap is over, there will be frantic activity getting a lot of plants outside, both into the ground and to harden off, as well as direct seed sowing into the ground. My potatoes have been growing well even with this frost, so will soon need earthing up.
Happy Gardening!
Kevin
Ammi Majus and calendula before
