Early planting a success
Posted by DavidM in Gardening | 21 April 2007
Over the last couple of weeks I've watched the first shoots of a new vegetable growing season.
The potatoes are doing fantastically well - almost all the plants are out and many are already about 6 inches tall.
The onions are doing equally well and the shallots - after a slow start - are also sprouting well.
The seeds in the temporary greenhouse haven't done so well. About 4 tomatoes are through and half a dozen carrots. A tip from my father-in-law for next year is to plant carrot seeds in old guttering then you can slide the whole lot into a trench in the ground when they sprout.
The runner beans have unfortunately gone to mush and I thought the green beans had too so starting dumping them in the compost bin. However I noticed one had developed so had to scrabbled around in the compost and found five out of the six were okay and repotted them.
I've now added three rows of carrots directly into the ground and covered them to protect from any late frost. I also used old gravel boards to border the veg patch.
Next I need to apply copper tape to the boards all the way round to fend off the biggest threat to my plants - slugs!
I'll replant more runner bean seeds directly into the ground and should be getting some cucumber and courgette plants from friends and the father-in-law.
