Sweet Peas and Tomatoes.

On Tuesday I decided to sow my Sweet Peas, this year I am sowing the Giant Waved variety they did exceptionally well last year at the allotment and at home.

I always sow extra for my mum and sister so ended up sowing three packets. These will be for the garden. I am planning to purchase a new variety to go to the allotment this year. I just love the scent of sweet peas and pick them regularly for the house.

I have sown them in root trainers and 2 deep pots as they tend to have a good root run.

I have made a start with Tomatoes, last year I took part in an early sowing experiment and had lots of tomatoes that ripened in the sun a lot earlier. We made several batches of passata for spag bol with home grown herbs and garlic. Even the tomatoes at the allotment did well although I only planted Ferline which is blight resistant. So this year I will plant those again plus try a few others and see how they go.
Sown: Sungold (This tomatoe is one of my all time favourites as it tastes divine), Ferline, Pomodora, Black Cherry, Yellow Submarine, Money Maker, Golden Queen, and San Marzano 2.

I potted on 3 Newmex Twilight, x3 Big Banana, x6 Romano Sweet Peppers, x4 Cayenne Peppers.
Celeriac: Balder has been pricked out into modules.
Germination: Piccante peppers are up. Still 2 types of chilli's haven't shown their face as yet!! Leeks: Blue Solaise and Lyons Prizetaker are growing well although Musselburgh and Autumn Mammoth are taking their time.

Sown another lot of Broad Beans, Crimson Flowered this time. Never tried these before so looking forward to something new.

Busy, Busy, Busy.

April is a busy month for sowing and so the veggie-patch is starting to come to life. Over the Easter holidays I have spent some time weeding, tidying up and sowing, around completing some diy.
Here is a picture of the daffodils and pansies that have been in flower in my garden

Garlic

The garlic that I started back in February has put on a lot of growth and all look healthy. The green shoots are about a foot high and have been under planted with lettuce as a catch crop.

Carrots

These are the carrots that I grew in a trough, they aren't ready yet but this is the first time I have had success with carrots. Buoyed on by this, I have sown a row in a tall raised bed and they have germinated. So hopefully we will have some home grown carrots this year. I am going to sow another row in a few weeks time.

Heritage Peas

These have been a joy to grow so far and are doing better than the meteor peas that were an early sowing. All the peas have been planted out and are scattered around the garden. They are looking great and I'm looking forward to seeing how the different varieties perform. At the moment they are looking very promising.

Chili Plants

I've had a count up of the chili plants in the greenhouse and ended up with 36 plants in total!

I have grown the following:

Purple Jals

Apache

Chili Pyramid

Cveta

Scotch Bonnet

Chinease Five Colour

Garda Hocus Pocus

Orangina

Brazilian Bonnet

Numex Twilight

Fresno

Lemon Drop

Prairie Fire

Patio Sizzle

Black Pearl

Tepin

Friars Hat

Red Missle

A few failed to germinate and some of these will be going to new homes. I have also sown pimento pepper which has shown up over the last week. The sweet peppers all germinated and I have Pepper mini bell, big banana, asda pointy peppers, summer salad and patio red.

A few weeks ago I have sown lettuce - All the year round, chartwell, radichio, mixed leaves and little gem. The mixed leaves have been transplanted into containers and the rest pricked out into modules. I had far too many so have given some to a friend, the rest have been planted amongst the garlic and into the raised beds, if they don't grow I have some more to plant out later. I will wait a month before I do another sowing and this time be a bit more careful with the seeds. Radish has germinated and has been planted into the raised beds. These seeds were from Poland and given to me and so far they have sprung up within a week and been planted straight out.

Early Tomatoes.

So far so good, all the plants are in the greenhouse and I have only used a bit of heat for about a week. They are growing well and are green and healthy, they have about five sets of leaves each and I may have some flowers soon but I want to get them into their final pots before this happens. Again I had too many plants so some have gone to new homes. I tend to sow a few of each variety and instead of oinking out the weakest seedling, I grow them on and give them away. All the seedling/plants are healthy but just can't bear to throw them away.

I have the following varieties in the greenhouse:

Yellow Butterfly

Super Cherry Sweet

Essex Wonder

Money Maker

Brown Berry

Sungold

Green Zebra

Balconi Yellow

Balconi Red

IIdl

Black Russian

Super Snow White

Brandy Wine

Kellogs Breakfast

Paul Robeson

Stupice

Morgage Lifter

Garden Pearl

Gardeners Delight

Tigerella.

Some of these will be grown outside, in hanging baskets, and some in the greenhouse

Over the last couple of weeks, I have sown:

Peas - Hurst Green Shaft, and Kelvedon Wonder, Sugar Snap Delikett.

Flowers - Dahlia - Black Beauty, Corn Flower - Dwarf variety, Calendula - Candy Man, French Marigolds - Bolero and Orange Flame. All have germinated and are ready for pricking out.