21 March 2023

Starting seeds

 A nice bit of weather at the weekend and I managed to get some seeds sown, both directly in the garden, and in trays.  Most of my seed trays are started outside, as I don't have the room or inclination to decorate my kitchen with them;  there are, however, a few warm weather plants currently gracing my windowsill:  tomato and celeriac seedlings, for instance.

This weekend I raked over a bed the chickens had already tractored for me (scratched, weeded, and manured for two days), and sowed two rows of carrots and three of parsnips.  The carrot seed was last year's, so I may need to resow (it doesn't keep well after opening, apparently), so I sowed it all fairly densely, in the hopes some will germinated.  Not a huge deal if they don't, as I have a couple of unopened packets ready to go.  I also marked the rows with a string between two sticks, to make for accurate hoeing, and then finally put down some insect mesh, in the hopes the birds and bugs don't demolish them as they come up.  I'll take it off once they are well established.

I also sowed a tray each of lettuce, kohl rabi, beets, and red cabbage;  the husband dug me out a big sackful of nicely aged compost about a month ago, and I sieved some of this and mixed with a bit of sand to fill my seed trays.  It's lovely stuff, and I have another three composters full of it at the allotment.  He's suggested making a few grow bags with it, for tomatoes/cucumbers/etc.  If I have enough to spare, I think it would be perfect for that.

April will be my big push for most seeds, but I will continue to do some early batches in March, including some more direct seeding of roots in the kitchen garden at home. 

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