Onions and Shallots

Lovely bright sunny morning so decided to plant out the onions and shallot sets that I had.

Turned the ground over first which I was glad I had done as some of the bind weed root was still there and starting to sprout, so managed to remove as much as I could find which hopefully might keep the area a little clearer from it this year.

So started off like this...^

End ended up with 2 rows of shallots (Golden Gourmet) and 9 rows of onion (Sturon)

Started getting ready where my first earlies are going to go in.

Also picked some perpetual spinach which I will chop in the food processor and freeze on baking sheets and then chop into portion sized amounts  ready to be added to stews etc. The scozerona that I pulled is going to be par boiled and roasted. I've never tried it before so it will be interesting to see if I like it and maybe will get some more seed as it was surprisingly easy to deal with.

March 8th 2011

Really wanted to plant out onions, shallots and first earlies, but there had been a hard frost and after asking advice from fellow horti-tweeps thought it best to hold back another week or so.
I took the raspberry plants that were in pots in the garden to fill in the gaps on row down on the plot. I think they'll be ok as they've survived the minus 10 temps we've had in pots over the last couple of months so even with the extra exposure they should be fine.

Spent the rest of the time weeding, not that there was much to do fortunately. A couple of patches of dandelions and mostly chickweed.

Managed to bring home leeks, parsnips, salsify, swede and sprouts. Will get them prepared into something yummy today

7th March 2011

Seed planting day - hooray!!

I love it when the weather turns warm enough that I can start planting seeds in preparation to take small plants down to the allotment in a few weeks/months time.
This is what has been planted so far today...
French Marigold
Cornflower, Tall Mixed
Tomato, moneymaker
Broccoli, green calabrese
Larkspur, giant imperial mixed
Cornflower, double blue
Oregano
Basil
Lettuce, all year round
Aubergine, Early long purple 2
Cauliflower, all year round
Chilli pepper, de cayene
Leek, musselburgh
Tomato, alicante
Broccoli, early purple sprouting
Chilli pepper, jalepeno
Onion, North Holland Blood Red Redmate
Onion, Ailsa Craig
Onion, Sweet Spanish Yellow
Lettuce, Iceburg 2
Parsely, Moss Curled 2
Sprouts, Bedford Filbasket
Cabbage, Greyhound
Cabbage, Red drumhead

I usually start them off in pots like this so as not to waste too much seed compost and space is an issue early on, especially if things dont germinate. When they have germinated and have put out some true leaves then they get transplanted to their own little cells to grow on a bit further, and then harden off before planting out on the plot.

I also moved on some tomato plants (Roma) that I set off on the 30th January as they have true leaves and were looking a little crowded in the small pot.

They'll stay on the window sill in the bathroom for another few weeks and then get hardened off outside for a while before going to the plot.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get down to the plot and plant out some raspberry canes that I dug up from the runners last year that have been in pots in the garden since then, and also hopfeully get some onion sets planted and the first early potatoes in. Thats the plan anyway!!