After my protracted excursion into the wild you might think I have given up raising vegetables. Fear not. I did get carried away with the warm patch at the end of February and sowed lots of things. Then of course the weather turned cold. Today for instance the thermometer has peaked at a balmy 7C as the sun has made an appearance. The night time temperatures have hovered perilously close to freezing. I have the paraffin heater at the ready because the greenhouse is bursting at the seams. Under the circumstances the production line from propagator to indoor lights to greenhouse to outdoors, has well and truly come to a grinding, if temporary, halt. I've taken a snapshot of the situation with the benefit of the aforementioned sunny interval:
Propagator
Indoor lights
Greenhouse Right
Greenhouse Left
Greenhouse centre
Hardy outdoors
Shed
I do have two rows of early potatoes already planted at the plot
But the rest are waiting for the Good Friday day of planting.
It has been a nervous week of watching the temperature forecasts and I am so looking forward to a change in the wind direction and a jump in the temperature so that I can get the production line going again. After all it is April and according to the seed packets it is the ideal time to sow just about ANYTHING you may care to grow.
As I write the sun has disappeared and a shower of hailstones is pelting down.
Too early to sow tomatoes? Well these were sown in January:
I figured: If you have a propagator and lights, why not use them? Of course I hadn't reckoned on one of the coldest springs on record. So I have been watching the outdoor temperatures and biting my nails since then. This week I have potted them up and today I potted up the chillies that were sown at the same time. They get to spend days out - in the greenhouse - but still get pampered at night for now. This hardening off lark is no joke
On the plus side I have refrained from sowing beans sweetcorn or courgettes up until now!
These pictures are a week or two old - my trusty pocket camera has jammed and is off at the repair shop.
After my last post I hadn't anticipated having anything to report for a while but already there are signs that the leeks cabbage and cauliflower have germinated. I was ready for them as I placed the lighting strip over the propagator from the outset.
Here's a closer view of the corner where the action is:
and an even closer shot of the leeks:
That only leaves nine more pots to watch over.
I am relieved that my light from last year is still working. I don't have a spare bulb and wouldn't trust buying one over the internet/in the post (although that's how the first one arrived as part of the set up). I have yet to find a local stockist.
My old heated propagator has been rather underwhelming having achieved an all time high temperature of 16.6C. It tends to sit at about 10C (It is located in a former coal cellar under an external stone staircase and possibly the heat could be coming from the neighbouring refrigerator!) The brassicas seem to appreciate that the above 8 degrees threshold has been achieved but it is not surprising that the tomatoes haven't decided to germinate just yet! It might be time to buy a new heated propagator specifically for heat loving plants although this one clearly has its use.
