More sunshine and more blossom

Thursday started rather dull and cloudy but the sun soon came out and we were treated to another lovely April day. The mild conditions continued with temperatures well above those for the time of year. On the plot it has brought more of our fruit trees into blossom. Along with the plum and greengages which came out a few days ago our cherry tree and pears trees are now in full blossom.

Cherry and Pear blossom

Wednesday started off dull but soon cleared up to give a lovely sunny day. The temperature was extremely warm for April as this piece in the Daily Telegraph details.

Click on the picture to view full article.

We didn't quite manage the temperatures in Telegraph but our high was 21.1°C very respectable for early April. These 2 ladybirds on the plot were also making the most of the fine weather.

Ladybirds enjoy the warmth

I cultivated 3 of our long beds on the plot. The soil is now very dry and really needs some rain. Our clayey soil is now starting to have dry concrete hard lumps in it which will only break down into a fine tilth once we get some rain.

Cultivated beds - soil is very dry

Dull and mild

Tuesday saw the mild start to April continue with just some light rain overnight.

Tomato seeds sown and placed under the indoor grow garden are germinating well.

Tomato seedlings - Amish Gold & Moneymaker

The young seedlings are being drawn to the centre of the lit area. I've lifted the light source to see if that helps and of course turning the tray around will straighten up the seedlings. One thing for certain is that they are not drawn to the light from the window which is to the left of the pictures. So far so good but it's early days yet.

We've also placed some of our flower seeds under the light and these too are germinating well producing the tricky task of trying to get the germinated seedlings in the best position under the light.

Undecided!

Monday was mostly dull, breezy and cloudy but remained fairly mild for early April. It's difficult to tell what the weather's going to do as it's cloudy one minute, and looks like it's going to pour down, only for the sun to come out for a brief spell before the clouds return. I suppose that's typical of April except we're avoiding the showers.

I've decide our greenhouse mice are clever or just lucky as they've managed to scoff my bait of golden chorus, triggering the mouse trap, but not get trapped. I'm not giving up though as I could do to have the blighters trapped before leaving un-covered trays of seeds in the greenhouse.

Although the weather's a bit mixed it hasn't stopped our pansies producing some super flowers.

Pansies

Brassicas sown

Sunday was a little cooler with some sunny intervals and light showers.

I was a little undecided whether to go to the plot and do some digging or get some brassica seeds sown at home. A shower at lunchtime convinced me I might be better off sowing some seeds in the greenhouse at home. Along with brassica seeds I sowed some lettuce and broad beans seeds all to germinate and grow on in our greenhouse. Details are on the Sow Grow Harvest button at the top of the blog page.

Brassica sowings

I've sown all these brassicas in John Innes compost. The first sowing of cabbages (Primo) raised under our grow light looked a little peaky when they were moved to the greenhouse. They looked as though they needed some better compost. I only had a bag of the same compost and used that to pot up the seedlings which are now growing away well and will soon be ready to transplant in the allotment. So was it the conditions under the grow light or the compost I'm not sure which.

Cabbage plants Primo

Our home greenhouse is now full so today I moved our new Kiwi, Cobnut and Japanese Wineberry out of the greenhouse to make a little space for the brassicas and other seeds sown today. As soon as the ground is prepared our new fruits will be moved into their final positions.

Kiwi and Japanese Wineberry

Mouse protection

Saturday was another sunny and mild day. It will be a bit of a shock when we return to more typical April temperatures.

Making the most of the pleasant conditions in the greenhouse  a large batch of seeds were sown details of which can be found by clicking on the "Sow, Grow and Harvest" tab at the top of my blog. Most of the seeds are struggling to find space under our indoor grow light but the sweet peas are in the greenhouse and will initially have to survive any mouse attacks. So far mouse traps have being unsuccessful. I've covered our sweet pea seeds with plastic covers which should keep the mice out unless they're particularly strong ones.

Sweet pea seeds protected from mice.

In the garden our camellias are in full flower and as usual are providing a spectacular display.

Camellia

Plum blossom

Friday was breezy, cloudy and mild. Surprising comparing the average temperatures for February and March, is that March was only 0.3°C warmer than February.

Our plums and greengages are in flower on the plot. Oullins gage is fully out and looks very pretty. I'm never sure whether this is a plum or a gage but judging from the flowers I'm sticking to it being a plum.

Plum - Oullins Gage

Our extra early potatoes Winston and Maris Bard were planted in bags and place in the plot greenhouse. They should perhaps have been planted a bit earlier but I'm sure with a start in the greenhouse they will be ready for harvesting before any of the outdoor crops to be planted over the next couple of weeks.

Potatoes - Maris Bard

Whose eaten my cabbages?

Thursday brought a dry March to a close. Just to dry the ground out even more we had gale force winds and sunshine for most of the day. The total rainfall in the month was just 7.2mm the lowest monthly total since I started keeping records in October 2009.

Cabbage seedlings Primo

Our second batch of cabbage seedlings raised under our indoor grow light looked healthy and certainly hadn't gone leggy. To make space under our grow light they were moved into the greenhouse to make way for our tomato sowings. Unfortunately they didn't survive a full day as overnight their leaves were completely eaten leaving us with just stalks. I'm suspecting a mouse as there are no signs of any slug trails. The best laid plans and all that!