I have an old secondary double glazing frame, complete with 3 panels of framed glass, and am thinking of using it for the top of a cold frame up at the plot.
As it's about 6ft by 4ft, it should turn out as quite a large one. Plenty of room for early sowing of crops.
Got to get hold of some decent timber for the carcass for it now.
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
Re: Old Seed
Seed has been in damp tissue now for around 24 hours, and has swollen to twice its size.
Looks promising so far.
Looks promising so far.
Old seed found in the shed
When we took over our plot, we found a lot of seed which had been saved from previous years' crops, by the last tenant. Some of it was marked with the year it was saved, and the type of produce. It was all bean seeds of various type.
Looking at the dates on some of the packages/old envelopes, (one said saved FOR 1999)I decided that they probably would no longer be viable seed, so I threw them all(along with some older seed we still had at home), into one large envelope, with a view to feeding them to the birds or something.
Any way, I asked on Allotments4All if this was possible by maybe chopping them up in the food processor and soaking them. Somebody posted back a suggestion that I should try putting a mixture of them onto wet tissue and cover them similarly, to see what happens. So......that is what I did last night. They are in a meat tray on the kitchen windowsill.
Now awaiting the results..................we shall see?
Looking at the dates on some of the packages/old envelopes, (one said saved FOR 1999)I decided that they probably would no longer be viable seed, so I threw them all(along with some older seed we still had at home), into one large envelope, with a view to feeding them to the birds or something.
Any way, I asked on Allotments4All if this was possible by maybe chopping them up in the food processor and soaking them. Somebody posted back a suggestion that I should try putting a mixture of them onto wet tissue and cover them similarly, to see what happens. So......that is what I did last night. They are in a meat tray on the kitchen windowsill.
Now awaiting the results..................we shall see?
Thoughts
Too tired at the moment, but I'm sure I'll think of something to write here before too long.
Seed sown so far(February 2007)
Put some garlic cloves into 3" pots around Christmas time and they are all about 4-5" tall now, and in the garden waiting to be transplanted to the plot.
The first seeds to be sown were Broad Bean-Aquadulce in 3" pots. They were in the greenhouse but I think it was too cold out there for them. I brought them into the conservatory and they showed within a couple of days. They are now 1-6" tall and are in the garden hardening off.
Then I sowed some sweet peas, but no sign of anything yet. Again they are in the greenhouse.
Also at the same time, sowed Tarvoy F1 cabbage and Perpetual Spinach, also in the greenhouse. As of 4 o'clock today (Feb 27th) 10/40 cabbages up, but nothing else. Have now started applying a little heat overnight to the greenhouse in the form of a Gaz lantern. Should keep the temperature about 5 degrees above that outside.
Have put 200 onion set into 2" pots to give them a start. They are 40 Stuttgart Giant, and 160 Sturon. these are now actually up at the plot in a makeshift cold frame, made from a recycled plastic raised bed 1 metre square, stood on a sheet of plastic, with a huge sheet of glass which I found behind the shed, almost covering it. They have started shooting too.
I still have 40 Red onion sets to plant, but I think it's a bit early for them, as I'm told they will bolt if they go in too early.
Meanwhile, over the last weekend I got some more sowing done, but this time all went straight to the conservatory.* Four types of Tomato, ten seeds of each :- Gardeners Delight, Sweet Million, Shirley and Tamina. Some of these will be for the greenhouse at home, and some for outdoors at the plot.
Two types of sweetcorn also went in :- Golden Bantam (thank you Gabriela for those) and Lark F1, around 15 of each
Two types of leek also went in :- Musseburgh and Lyon, 60 of each.
Also two types of cucumber :- Chinese snake, which can be grown indoors or out, and Burpless tasty Green, around 12-15 of each.
Suppose I'll have to sort the greenhouse out soon to make more room for future sowings.
We also have several types of potato seed chitting away up on the bed in the spare bedroom. I think there must be about 10 kilos altogether of five types :- Bambino, Charlotte, Kestrel, Desiree and Maris Piper. One tray of the Desiree are in a cold frame by the shed up at the plot though.
We have also planted up at the plot, some soft fruit bushes :- Gooseberry, Redcurrant, Blackcurrant, and a couple of rhubarbs. The autumn raspberries have been pruned down to just above ground level too, and the digging is progressing as and when the weather, time and health permit.
* Our conservatory is about 3 mt by 5.5 mt and is also a utility room and is serviced by 2 radiators, one of which is permanently on (subject to the system timer), and the other is thermostatically controlled.
Well that's it for now. More Later.
The first seeds to be sown were Broad Bean-Aquadulce in 3" pots. They were in the greenhouse but I think it was too cold out there for them. I brought them into the conservatory and they showed within a couple of days. They are now 1-6" tall and are in the garden hardening off.
Then I sowed some sweet peas, but no sign of anything yet. Again they are in the greenhouse.
Also at the same time, sowed Tarvoy F1 cabbage and Perpetual Spinach, also in the greenhouse. As of 4 o'clock today (Feb 27th) 10/40 cabbages up, but nothing else. Have now started applying a little heat overnight to the greenhouse in the form of a Gaz lantern. Should keep the temperature about 5 degrees above that outside.
Have put 200 onion set into 2" pots to give them a start. They are 40 Stuttgart Giant, and 160 Sturon. these are now actually up at the plot in a makeshift cold frame, made from a recycled plastic raised bed 1 metre square, stood on a sheet of plastic, with a huge sheet of glass which I found behind the shed, almost covering it. They have started shooting too.
I still have 40 Red onion sets to plant, but I think it's a bit early for them, as I'm told they will bolt if they go in too early.
Meanwhile, over the last weekend I got some more sowing done, but this time all went straight to the conservatory.* Four types of Tomato, ten seeds of each :- Gardeners Delight, Sweet Million, Shirley and Tamina. Some of these will be for the greenhouse at home, and some for outdoors at the plot.
Two types of sweetcorn also went in :- Golden Bantam (thank you Gabriela for those) and Lark F1, around 15 of each
Two types of leek also went in :- Musseburgh and Lyon, 60 of each.
Also two types of cucumber :- Chinese snake, which can be grown indoors or out, and Burpless tasty Green, around 12-15 of each.
Suppose I'll have to sort the greenhouse out soon to make more room for future sowings.
We also have several types of potato seed chitting away up on the bed in the spare bedroom. I think there must be about 10 kilos altogether of five types :- Bambino, Charlotte, Kestrel, Desiree and Maris Piper. One tray of the Desiree are in a cold frame by the shed up at the plot though.
We have also planted up at the plot, some soft fruit bushes :- Gooseberry, Redcurrant, Blackcurrant, and a couple of rhubarbs. The autumn raspberries have been pruned down to just above ground level too, and the digging is progressing as and when the weather, time and health permit.
* Our conservatory is about 3 mt by 5.5 mt and is also a utility room and is serviced by 2 radiators, one of which is permanently on (subject to the system timer), and the other is thermostatically controlled.
Well that's it for now. More Later.
Tuesday, 27 February 2007
A Few Photos
This is me with number seven grandson,aged one month, taken last christmas.
And above are three images of the only orchid we managed to get to flower.
These were taken around Christmas time also.
Hello and welcome to my new blog. This is where I will be posting photographs etc. about my allotment and other things.
This my first ever attempt at anthing like this so bear with me please.
This is a photo of my Ceanothus in the front garden taken when we had that snow a couple of weeks ago. It still had a few flowers on at that time.
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