Seed sowing and transplanting.

Spent most of today sowing seeds and transplanting seedlings.  I have put the Mammoth onions into large pots to grow on.  The Vision onions were put into smaller pots because they will be put into the allotment sooner.  Vision is a good storing onion and can last throughout the winter if they are treated correctly.  The large onions will have to be eaten quite quickly because they will not store very well.

I transplanted some turnips into sectioned trays.  This is the first time that I have done this because I usually plant straight into the allotment soil and thin out.  I am going to try to get some big turnips this year so that I can give one to my daughter when she is reading "The Enormous Turnip".

Apart from this, last year they were particularly well eaten by cabbage root flies so I want to see if I can grow some better ones this year.

I have sown both swede and kohlrabi into sectioned trays for similar reasons.  The celeriac seedlings have been  transplanted into sectioned trays as have the second sowing of celery.

More lettuce and All the Year Round cauliflowers were sown for succession. Regardless of the fact that I have far too many already.

Other brassicas sown today are calabrese and "Trafalgar" Brussel sprouts.  I still need to sow the winter cauliflowers and the broccoli.

I have sown some French climbing beans to see if I can get an early crop.  Most would say that it is far to early for French bean sowing but I collected my own seed last year and have a surfeit  I can experiment with.  Similarly, I have kept my own runner beans and can experiment with an early sowing of these.

I have also sown several different herbs including dill, marjoram, sage, basil, cumin, etc.  I am not too sure whether they will come very well because they were last years seed being sold off at half price in the garden center.

This has filled the greenhouse again.  However, the potatoes that are chitting will be planted soon and the early sowing of "Golden Acre" cabbages can be taken out to harden off.  I have some early Duke of York potatoes which I will plant tomorrow.  This will allow some room for new seedlings to be transplanted.  I will only plant more pea seeds when the present ones are planted in the allotment.  This should give me a good succession of peas.

 The parsnips will go in tomorrow.  So too will the sweet pea seedlings.

It is a busy time of the year.