As soon as there is a sniff of warmth in the air, then I’m off, all excited, sowing seeds. Inevitably colder weather returns and it is all in vain.
But that hasn’t deterred me from planting some sprouting potatoes in the greenhouse which were lurking in the kitchen. and some asparagus crowns bought from Wilkos. The last lot shivered in cold wet soil all winter in the open garden and only two plants remain showing any life in them. Pathetic spindly stems appear, to be consumed by slugs.
These crowns had shoots on them and these peek out above the soil. The slugs have already nibbled two!
Yesterday I sowed some Amsterdam early carrots in the greenhouse. we’ll see what becomes of them.. and some other seeds. they are Franchi but I’m not sure what they are! I think they are red oakleaf lettuce but I’ve sowed a mini row to see what might come up. Slugs are a problem in the greenhouse. need to get some beer pots out.
I brought the heated seed tray inside, cleaned it and switched on – hooray, it still works so in there are some coriander and some basil. For compost I dug around the largest ash tree where there are piles of leaf litter, riddled it to end up with a fine sowing medium. hope the seeds think so too.
Over a week ago I tried sowing some basil in pots of soil scraped off the top of mole hills. Either the soil was full of mini slugs which I can’t see, or the seeds are old, or refuse to grow in such conditions- I don’t know.
Gardening in a Jungle 