What's sowing and growing this week.

The speed that things are growing at the moment is proving quite a task to keep up with. I love that so much is going on in the garden but there is a small part of me that want's to slow it all down just a little bit so that I can get full enjoyment out of each new thing that has sprung up or burst into flower. Even goings-on in the greenhouse have sped up dramatically in the last few days. The investment of a heated propagator was truly worthwhile, as you can see at the front of this picture, I now have 2 cucumber seedlings and 3 courgette seedlings! Hoorah!! At last. Thank you everyone for your advice and kind words during my moments of cucurbit frustration last week! I think the cold must have had something to do with the lack of success, it would appear these babies love heat. I have only been turning the propagator on at night so as not to cook my precious seeds but so far they all seem quite happy and content.
Also springing up are the climbing beans and some more broad beans. My last sowing of broad beans only produced 4 plants but I now have another 4 peeking up through the soil. The runner beans I am planting this year are Wisley Magic and I am also growing some long purple beans call Blauhilde. I first grew these last year and they were a great success with a fantastic flavour, their purple colour also looks incredibly pretty on the plot.

The tulips have started to flower this week and the borders are looking all the better for the splashes of bright red. It's funny to think that only a month ago this border looked so dull and brown. Note to self: Hydrangea heads need cutting off.

After losing all our pelargoniums over winter we bought all new plugs a couple of weeks ago. These have been taking up alot of valuable greenhouse space and so we have planted these up this week and are hoping they will survive outside. We may have to cover them up at night if frost threatens but the weather here has been quite mild so I am hoping they will be ok.

We have bought a mixture of standard and trailing ones in scarlet and white. I think the bright red should look lovely in this old drainpipe against the white wall in summer.

A couple of weeks ago when I planted my early potatoes I removed a large clump of forget-me-nots that had seeded themselves in the middle of the plot. I bought them home and re-planted them by the shed.

I know they will cover everywhere and I will be in-undated with forget-me-nots next year (and forever more) but I love them and they cheer up what is a rather dull and practical, working area of the garden. Note to self: Shed needs painting.

On the plot the spring planted garlic and onions now have green shoots and I am pleased with their progress considering I only got around to planting them a few weeks ago. This is the first time I have tried planting garlic in spring.I have previously grown it overwinter so it will be interesting to see the results and compare with other years.

I have now planted my pak choi. I am hoping the marigolds will protect from whitefly and the netting will protect from pigeons and butterflies but I fear the biggest enemy for these will be slugs. Thankfully I don't think we have any visiting pheasants like Shiny New Allotment Holder!

Jobs for the weekend:
Plant tomatoes in greenhouse border.
Finish planting potatoes.
Deadhead hydrangeas.
Pot up climbing bean seedlings.
Sow chard seeds.

Despite the British weather...

...I have had a good weekend round at the allotment. I haven't posted allotment pictures on here yet so welcome to my plot. Admittedly it doesn't look it's best at this time of year but it gets better I promise!

And this is Pierre who guards our raspberries in the summer!

 After a good session of digging I feel like I have arms like Popeye and my legs are feeling just as hard worked as I have spent the weekend running back and forth from home to plot - only for it to rain...from plot to home - for the sun to reappear, from home to plot - for it to rain; you get the picture! But despite all that, the time inbetween has been productive. We have managed to dig over a large part of the plot ready for the potatoes to go in (admitedly Mr Notebook covered more suface area than me but I like to think I weed more thoroughly which makes me slower!). I haven't planted potatoes yet for two reasons: the weather; and the more experienced plotters at the allotment don't seem to have put theirs in yet, although I am watching and waiting eagerly for the sign to go ahead!

My onions and garlic are finally in. I missed autumn planting and so have planted spring garlic and onions this year for the first time. I have made a good start at weeding the strawberry patch which was suffering from a winter of neglect. Due to my guilt for this neglect I have rescued any runners that hadn't rooted themselves and planted them up in the greenhouse for replanting later...although my sympathetic approach may have been wasted as after just one night someone seems to have been intent on undoing my good deed and has munched right through one already!

So after all my hard work I have treated myself to some pak choi plants from the nursery. I have tried to grow this from seed the last two years but have never had any success. The seeds have either never germinated or the slugs have devoured them instantly as soon as they appear. So I am hoping that this year by starting off with strong little plants they might actually make it from plot to plate. Fingers crossed. Any tips on growing this successfully would be most welcome!

I hope you have all had a good Easter of gardening and that the weather hasn't spoilt your fun too much. I look forward to reading about what you have all been up to. Happy Easter!