Rainy Easter weekend

I took advantage of a break in the rain to start potting some of the seedlings which are beginning to jostle for space in the seed tray.

On Saturday I bought three 12 inch pots. I put three tomato plants into each one.

I also set to work on the herb trough, planting loads of Basil and Coriander. I hope the Coriander will be okay as it is not very tolerant to transplanting, which can cause bolting.

My first potato has sprouted! This is in the pot, the potatoes in the raised bed have yet to show signs of life. Finger-crossed they will be okay especially after the foxes tried to dig them up a while back.

Potatoes

How exciting! This is my first time at trying to grow tatties.

I have put my chitted seed potatoes into the raised bed. I am using half the available space so I only put 6 of them in there. I used a dutch hoe to create three small trenches about 60cm apart and planted each potato with the tubers facing upwards 40cm apart. Afterwards I covered them with a little compost(roughly 8cm).

I still have about 12 left so I have also put three in a large pot. It will be interesting to see how they progress. The remainder I may give away or plant in another large pot.

Orkney seaweed and other things

I have been on a spending spree recently. I've bought a giant poly-tunnel, some Orkney seaweed fertilizer and some large bell cloches. The cloches come in very handy protecting young seedlings from slugs.

Most of the seedlings are now outside in a specially prepared 'nursery' area. I've planted six of my seed potatoes. I didn't realise that potatoes took up so much room! I have placed them in one half of the big raised bed. The rest of the bed contains purple sprouting brocolli and a lone artichoke.

Yesterday I planted some lettuce, spinach and coriander seeds. Today I potted six runner bean seeds. I thought I would plant these again as they were a great success last year.

My next job is to weed the carrot plot and double-dig the marked-out plot for the poly-tunnel. Once I have done this I can plant the aubergines. I might also get some courgettes in under there where they will be nice a toasty warm!

Good news on the onion front. There are numerous shoots appearing!

I was thinking about how best to attract beneficial insects into the garden. Jake's wildflower garden should help a great deal. Maybe I should plant some more nasturtiums this year. I remember last year they were covered in caterpillars that would surely have been chomping away on my veg.