First Main Crop Sown

Tuesday was a little bit better than forecast with a few sunny spells developing. Temperatures were still a little bit disappointing for the middle of March but the sunshine lifted the temperature into the high teens in the greenhouse. The greenhouse door was left open for the afternoon just incase any insects cared to pop in and pollinate our nectarine flowers.

I made the most of the decent weather to get our first main crop seeds of the year sown. These were broad bean “Witkiem Manita”. 

They’re supposed to be a very fast maturing crop which can be as early as an autumn sowing. The proviso is that to achieve this they have to be sown in February so obviously I’m a month or so out. In the past a March sowing in pots before transplanting into the plot has given us an excellent crop of beans. I’m planning on them being ready for picking by late June or early July given some good growing weather.

The seeds have been planted two to a cell in modules with 15 cells. That’s used up my packet of seeds so no second attempts if germination fails. If both seeds germinate that won’t be a problem as both plants will be planted out and left to grow on. I've done this in the past with no problems.

The broad beans are the first to move into the cold frame where they've been left to germinate. I’m wondering if I should give them some extra protection with a covering of fleece. 

Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett