Peas and beans

While I was waiting for my peas to germinate I spotted a pack of 6 plant cells on offer in The Range, with each cell containing several good looking plants. Needless to say I bought them! So yesterday I planted them out, next to my little sprouting peas. I added some sticks pruned from the Forsythia and threaded some twine around for support.

My peas just sprouting, with the bought plants to the right

I also put out the dwarf French beans. I had too many plants for the square bed, so I've put the rest in the gaps in the onion bed.

Dwarf French beans

Peas

Having dug over and added compost to the small, square bed a few weeks ago, I covered it in fleece until I was ready to plant into it. This has had 2 benefits - warmer soil and more importantly, no cat poo! So today, I have sown mangetout peas "Delikta" directly into one corner of the bed. I plan to sow some more in a couple of weeks time, and fill the rest of the bed with French beans that are doing nicely in my patio growhouse for the moment. I have replaced the fleece for protection until I plant out the beans.

More progress

Last weekend, Amy and I planted the rest of the seed potatoes, this time in potato bags. On Monday, I potted on the chilli seedlings - they started off looking a bit sad and I was worried I'd killed them. However, they soon picked up and are now sprouting their 1st true leaves.

I've also taken the fleece off the raised bed that was protecting the shallots and pea shoots. They are both doing nicely now, so I took the opportunity to put in the support for the peas. This year I'm trying netting stretched between bamboo canes.

Pea shoot

Shallot shoots

Harvesting (in the rain!)

After all the waiting, we're now getting quite regular veggies! Amy and I picked a couple of strawberries this week (although they got eaten before I thought about a photo!) - they were a bit soft with all the rain, but very tasty all the same.

We've had quite a few more potatoes (Kestral) - they look so colourful, but unfortunately they loose the purple when they're cooked.

Yesterday I picked the first of the peas, carrots and purple radishes (and some more spuds!).

The peas were a great success - will definitely grow some more of these.

One of the carrots had split open. I've looked into this a bit and it seems the most likely cause is too much water (especially after a drier spell). Hmmm, we have had exceptional rainfall recently so I'll blame that.

The radishes look great, but the flavour is a bit overpowering to say the least - I may have found the strongest variety! I'm now looking for recipes that use cooked radish - so far I'm thinking radish curry (Kerala style) or chutney...

Things are growing!

The seeds I planted just 5 days ago have all germinated! The extra warmth on the kitchen windowsill has obviously done the trick. They are now growing so fast, you can almost see it! 

Sweetcorn seedlings

Courgette seedlings

And the crops outside have done pretty well this week too...

Spinach, salad and onions

Potatoes

Strawberries

Salad crops

Garlic and peas

First harvest!

 My salad leaves are coming on really well. I sowed a wide row outside on the 26th March and have kept the bed covered with horticultural fleece quite a lot of the time. They are doing almost as well as the ones I planted in my mini greenhouse 3 weeks earlier. I decided to pick a few (!) to have with our lunch today - mostly decorative, but they tasted great!













You can also see how well the spinach, onions and peas are coming on:

Sprouting

Lupins (green manure)

Peas

Spinach and speedy salad leaves

Everything's beginning to grow! Here's a selection of how they're coming on...

A few spare minutes

I had a few spare minutes after school pick-up today, so went out and did some more sowing. Today I've sown mangetout peas in bed 5 and the Innocent seeds in pots in the greenhouse (by now we've collected 3 packets of carrots and 1 of tomatoes). The pea packet suggests planting them in a zigzag fashion, I'm not really sure why this is, but I followed the suggestion anyway.