Leeks and Sweet Pea Sowings

It was mostly dull on Thursday with only a few very brief glimpses of sunshine.

I’d decided to sow our leeks earlier this year. Last year they were sown on 8th April so this year’s seeds are in a whole month ahead of last year which I suppose thinking about it is quite a bit earlier. Perhaps it’s the mild start to the month that’s encouraged me to sow the seeds now. Last year at the beginning of March we had a series of keen overnight frosts from the 2nd to 11th March with temperatures falling as low as -5.1°C so there wasn’t a lot of encouragement to make an early start to seed sowing. I also made a start sowing some of our sweet peas today too. These were sown on the 2nd April last year so I’m well ahead of last year at the moment. Hopefully by the time any of these seeds have germinated any danger of really cold nights in the greenhouse will be past.

I managed to make some space for the seeds on the greenhouse floor next to our onion sets which are now all starting to shoot. The onions and shallots will be the first plants to move out of the greenhouse and into the cold frame to make way for more seed sowings.

Our second camellia which only receives a light pruning each year is also in flower. Unfortunately I can see the time approaching when this too will need a major pruning. In the meantime it continues to produce some spectacular flowers.