Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[blackgold]

I have 6 cerlerac plants that are in a windowbox that has been out in the garden all winter. they are still growing leavesstayed on all year and now growing new ones. shall i dig them p and see what they are like? i also have horseradish that is in a big pot and has also been out all winter. i bought it as a baby plant and it says perenial on the label when will i know it is ready? new leaves are shooting p now. Planted some cosmos flowers today in toilet roll pots lol Love sue xxx

[Valkyrie]

Ooh try one and see - it's a winter veg, so should be OK. Ugly things, but tasty. I think it is the root of the horse radish that is eaten - carefully! I know if you put it in the ground it can be invasive with huge tap roots.

[blackgold]

I must find a recipe for horseradish sauce..... I am busy getting ready for my first hen party on sunday and tonight is the first night my chooks have slept in their new run cos our puppies are going outside tomorrow for the frist time and so the hens had to vacate the puppy pen where they have lived from their first day with us. They are back in their old eglu as well cos i am going to use the new one for demos... lol Love Sue xxx

[Valkyrie]

Jerusalem artichokes went in yesterday and today OH and I planted the spuds - took a little longer than usual because someone wanted to sit in the trench after we tipped in a load of home made compost - that would have been Cheyenne hunting! Earlies are under black plastic with crosses cut into it for them to grow through.

Potted on more toms, saw that some of the peppers that I have done a second sowing for have miraculously appeared in the first pot. Bah! But still no sign of the golden Californian variety. Pooh!

[theherd123]

Today the OH dug over all the veggy beds, we then planted the spuds in bags, 200 onion sets and tidied up the strawberry patch.

 

Will do a bit more tomorrow if we find time as loads more things to get started!

[Cinnamon]

I got my earlies in yesterday too - very exciting

Pentland Javelin I think they are.

My Onions are all doing really well, both the reds & the whites

[Valkyrie]

OH had to barricade the remaining patch of winter onions - someone has trampled down the chicken wire and chomped the shoots. 3 guilty hens caught in the act. Just sorting the next lot of sowings to do while slurping a coffee - see you later.

[Mrs Frugal]

Sungold tomato seeds in the propagator today and the allotment bed is all dug over ready for the first early pototoes in a couple of weeks time.

[Blackrocksrock]

In propagator in green house - in polystyrene box with cheet of plastic over it.

Two kinds tomato, courgette, cucumber, pepper, lettuce, marigolds, thyme, basil etc and hope it does not become too frosty or I will have to bring them inside.

[Cinnamon]

Busy day here - can't waste this wonderful weather can we?

 

Tomatoes are all in - Sungold, Harlequin (baby cherry) & Money maker

Plus my Courgettes, a pot of mixed Rocket, baby round carrots & a couple of rows of Beetroot.

 

We also gutted the greenhouse, so its all looking lovely, ready for the crops when they are big enough

[Happy chickens!]

Glorious day, happy as a pig in mud!! Chickens helped while I sowed more chillis, carrots, beetroot, plus spinach, parsley, basil, red and green cabbages, pricked out tomatoes, cucumbers, cornflowers, honesty, catmint and transplanted the, ever so cheap, plug bedding plants into larger pots. Probably forgot some stuff, but feel like spring is really here.

[Lesley]

My tomato seedlings have appeared - I sowed them on March 1st and thought they might have rotted.

 

I sowed tomatoes, peas, PSB, melons, cucumbers, sweetcorn and aubergine seeds. Just the aubergines to appear now. I took photos of them all today, I was so excited! Since we moved to the farm I've bought plants so it's good to get back to growing from seed.

 

Today I sowed more lettuce, salad leaves, rocket, coriander, basil , broad beans, french beans, runner beans and parsnips.

 

So far these are all in the polygreenhouse - I need to sow more in the veggie plots over next week, covered with fleece and to get some garlic in as the cloves I planted last October don't seem to have survived - the onions are all doing well, planted at the same time

 

I have some rhubarb forcing under a big black dustbin and still have a few leeks and some spinach left .

[Blackrocksrock]

Glorious day, happy as a pig in mud!! Chickens helped while I sowed more chillis, carrots, beetroot, plus spinach, parsley, basil, red and green cabbages, pricked out tomatoes, cucumbers, cornflowers, honesty, catmint and transplanted the, ever so cheap, plug bedding plants into larger pots. Probably forgot some stuff, but feel like spring is really here.

 

 

I have honesty growing where I dont want it and have never planted it so spent lot of time to-day pulling it up!

[Valkyrie]

I don't know where the time went - never got round to sowing anything today, but potted on petunias, bizzie lizzies and some foliage plants that I can't remember the name of. Sorted out more pots and seed trays and tidied more of the greenhouse. Would have hosed down the cube, but Cheyenne hogged the nesting box for 2 hours - much to Apache's disgust. In the end she dived in on top of Cheyenne and came out before her too! Sioux laid early and was quite happy having the dust bath to herself!

I would like to know how a tagetes seedling got into my pot of peppers!??? I definitely didn't sow it in the pot, and I topped it with vermiculite that had been sealed up underneath the shelves, and the compost was a new bag.

[blackgold]

I always plant a tagete in with my toms, sopposed to deter whitefly

[Valkyrie]

Yes - seems to work well. I always grow a few trays in the greenhouse, so a seed might have stuck to my labels somehow - or I tend to use another flowerpot to firm the compost down - may have picked a stray seed up that way - even though everything has been brushed and cleaned! I always save the seeds. Last year I also had some poached egg plants for the hoverflies.

[Cinnamon]

I do poached egg plants too - I think they are gorgeous.

Yesterday I noticed that they have self seeded & are looking well established already

[henny penny]

Yesterday I planted a blackcurrant, redcurrant and gooseberry bush and some rhubarb!

 

What a lovely day!

Today I am going to plant some lemon pips and lots of seeds!

[Cinnamon]

Peas, French Beans, Carrots, White Spring Onions & red Spring Onions all in today.

 

I feel very happy to be out in the sun, & nicely satisfied with all the sowing I have got done over the last couple of weeks.

[Matthew]

On plot

Carrots, two half rows

Parsnips, two half rows

Peas, Kelvedon Wonder as my early peas

 

Brussels an early variety

Cabbage (one red, one savoy and greyhound)

Tumbling Tom Tomatoes

 

Random flowers (snapdragons I think)

 

 

Next weekend the spuds will be going in along with a ton of indoor seeds (squash etc)

[Cinnamon]

Oooooo- never thought of growing Squash, & we do eat a fair bit of it too

Is it an easy one to grow Matthew?

 

I have done the Kelvedon Wonder peas too, & you have also reminded me to get some parsnips in

[Redwing]

Cinnamon, did you sow your spring onions director in pots in the greenhouse?

 

All my parsnip seeds have germinated

[Snowy]

I've finally managed to get round to planting some seeds - I was trying to wait until my greenhouse was ready, but it could be a few more weeks yet So I patched up my mini greenhouse and planted strawberry seeds; kelvedon wonder peas and some mixed leaf lettuce.

When I got my box of seeds out, I couldn't believe how many i could have had planted up ready Got a few more to do tomorrow

[Cinnamon]

Cinnamon, did you sow your spring onions director in pots in the greenhouse?

 

All my parsnip seeds have germinated

 

 

No, I sowed them straight outside.

They are 'White Lisbon' & it says from March onwards, & we are very sheltered here

[chickencam]

off to do loads of sowing and potato planting, hubby has taken the rest of the day off and YD does choir after school today so we can stay until nearly 4pm. Happy days