Blown away, so vegetable seeds stay indoors
We have had a wonderful few days of sun and I spent much of the time tidying the garden borders. Today was to have been vegetable seed sowing day on my small allotment. Sensing my plans the weather promptly changed. Today has been much colder and extremely windy. One of my plastic garden chairs ended up blown across the garden.
I thought about going ahead with the seed sowing then realised that I would be pouring the seed onto my palm and whoosh…it would be scattered to the four winds. What a novel way to invent a new vegetable seed mix but I felt that the allotment next door to mine would reap the benefit. In a few months time the owner would be wondering where the beetroot, radishes and rocket had come from.
I decided to sow into seed trays instead, mostly salad leaves. I’ve put the trays in the greenhouse for now
- Lettuces – ‘Little Gem’ and ‘Nymans’
- Endive – ‘Blond Full Heart’
- Spring Onions – ‘White Lisbon’. I’m copying Matron’s idea of sowing the seeds in modules and planting them out in a small bunch.
- Simpson’s Italian Salad Leaf Mixture (Mesclun 4). This includes Italian Red Rib Dandelion and cutting chicories
Most of these join the Cabbages, Leeks and Celeriac which I sowed last month.
Seed trays in the greenhouse
The Salad Leaf mixture I decided to plant in a hanging basket outside the kitchen door. I’ve not tried this before but it would be a very handy location should it work. Open the door and pick a few salad leaves, what could be easier! Try to imagine lots of crispy green and red leaves instead of potting compost – it makes for a more interesting picture!
Hanging basket of salad leaves
Today I had the first 2009 sighting of one of my favourite insects. It was sitting sitting on a Celandine. The Ladybird and its young are voracious eaters of aphids. I hope this one has laid eggs somewhere nearby to protect my vegetables.
Ladybird on a Celandine
It is now pouring with rain so I’m glad the seeds are undercover. That applies to me too. Time for a cup of coffee I think.
9 comments
I’ve just had the same idea – cheers!
Plus time to catch up on a bit of reading :)
I was planning loads of veggie stuff for today too – but like you have stuck to indoor stuff instead. Hey ho.
How lovely to see the ladybird.
Well I hunted out my seeds today, but like you the weather was awful, lots of rain. I dont have a greenhouse so my thoughts of sowing seeds was put on hold. Hope your experiment with the salad leaves in the hanging basket works, it will be so conveinient.
Cup of Joe is always needed after a hard day’s work. Just had mine myself. Stay dry.
What a change in the weather ! I have been away for a couple of days visiting my parents and was nearly blown off the platform waiting for a train today. I think that you made a wise decision to sow undercover. I am trying out Matron’s spring onion suggestion too :) Like your salad leaves basket idea.
Wow, you are really getting going there! Impressive. Too awful out here too, just another day to think about all the things I haven’t done yet. I’ll have to look up Matron’s spring onion technique, since I love those and haven’t had luck with them in the past (got to meet her here in Seattle yesterday, which was fun! Wow, she sure knows a lot…). Love the hanging basket of edibles! Might try that too, copy copy copy. Learn from the masters, that’s my plan!
I am so behind I haven’t even started yet!!!!
Lovely to see the ladybird – in spite of the weather, spring must have arrived! Great idea to have a hanging salad basket. I’m growing salad leaves and mizuna in a trough on the balcony and they seem to like it. Hope the wind dies down soon so that you can sow your vegetables.
Like you, I just discovered the first ladybird of the season.
My son likes to call their grubs ‘aphid-killing devices’.
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