New growth everywhere you look...

Things are certainly starting to move in the garden - Spring is stirring the plants into action.

Look how much these Chives have grown:


19th Jan



16th Feb

 

9th March

 The Lettuce seeds I sowed have germinated quickly and well. Many seeds need heat to germinate, but Lettuce is one type of plant that likes cool conditions for germination. This is why it is often difficult to get it started during the Summer-time. I have seen some seed-packs advise you to sow lettuce in the evening, for this reason (on the assumption that the night will be cooler).

These are the mixed ones - the Best Winter Lettuce collection from Sarah Raven. I sowed a "pinch" of seed in each pot, so I can't be completely sure of the germination rate, but it looks to me like 100% or very nearly so!

In this pot, six seeds have germinated (one of them showing a red tinge, so almost certainly "Marvel of Four Seasons"), but I will remove all but one. This year I am going to try to be more disciplined with growing salads. I will aim to avoid having gluts and shortages, by sowing successionally and not having a huge number of plants all at the same stage.

The potatoes are chitting nice and evenly out there in the garage, where the temperature (cool but definitely frost-free) and light level (next to the window) seems ideal for the purpose.

The chits (shoots) should be short and dark coloured. Pale spindly chits are not desirable.

This is my patch of Wild Garlic, which seems to have spread a fair bit since last year, exactly as I wished. Hopefully this year there will be enough of it to justify picking some for use in the kitchen.

This is Lemon Balm, looking very enthusiastic. We don't use this plant as a herb (though of course we could), but I grow it for its ornamental properties, and the bees love its flowers.

The Purple Sprouting Broccoli is definitely purple and definitely sprouting:

My second batch of Sweet Peas is just about ready for pinching out. I still haven't decided where they will grow... I had better hurry up and decide because they will be ready for planting out within the next few weeks. Maybe I'll put some of them in a large pot, with some bamboo canes, and then mix the others in with my climbing beans (yet to be sown, of course).

Ridiculously, some of the Alpine Strawberries have decided to flower, and one of them even has a red ripe fruit!



I think we can safely say that Spring has arrived.