The celeriac seedlings are doing pretty well too.
The Stevia seeds mostly germinated, but many of them were affected with a bit of damping off, and I am only left with four or five seedlings, still very small. Luckily I kept a few seeds back so I can try again. I think the plants get quite big so I probably won't need that many. If they do well and flower I may be able to collect the seeds for next time.
I have managed to get to the plot briefly this week, and I even took the camera, but I got soaked by sleet and hail before I had a chance to take any pictures. Which was a shame because I planted three blackcurrant bushes, and de-thatched the strawberry patch. I had just started digging up couch grass from among the strawberries, which involved digging up a few strawberry plants in the process, when the heavens opened, and I couldn't leave because I hadn't replanted the strawberries.
One of my compost daleks has been infiltrated by rodents. I keep finding a rat-sized hole at the top of the compost, and a pile of freshly dug earth just behind. On investigation it seems I was not very careful with repositioning last time I emptied the bin, and it is now overhanging the mesh rat barrier by a couple of inches, this is obviously where they are getting in. I can't do anything about it for now, as the bin is full and far too heavy to move. I did try to slide another piece of mesh underneath but it hasn't worked. Still I think the compost will be ready before long so I can deal with it soon. Just need to weather to warm up.......
Still no sign of the broad beans I did in the greenhouse. I dug one up the other day to see what is going on. It had the beginnings of a bit of root coming out of the bottom, so I think it is happening, just very slowly. They don't seem to be rotting, so there is no reason not to be optimistic.
One thing I am not optimistic about is that the weather is going to change any time soon. I think we are in for a very late spring indeed. I was going to sow some seeds this week (chillis and tomatoes), but I'm being very restrained, because even if they germinate ok indoors, they will have to hang around in a very cold greenhouse for quite a while. It's not worth it.
4 comments:
These mushrooms look promising. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Glad to hear that you managed to get to the plot. I haven't done a thing on my allotment yet this year.
I don't grow mushrooms so am intrigued and looking forward to your regular updates. You're right to be restrained, I've ploughed ahead and will probably get caught out!
I agree I think spring is also going to be much later this year and I am also trying to be restrained and not sow anything till the end of the month for the earliest.
For the same reasons, I just can't be molly coddling tons of young vege plants all spring in the conservatory and the green house.
If I do sow anything it would be the toms, pepers, aubergines, onions and anything that needs a relatively long season. Other than that everything will be kept on hold till late March or middle April.
Wheteher I can restrain myself that long, is the real challenge.
I've grown mushrooms a few times and always found them to be temperamental. The spawn seeds (rice grains) were a dead loss, nothing there at all. The box kits are a bit better but I have only ever got one crop from them. They are supposed to keep growing but they don't.
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