26/1/25 - Lights and the Chits

A quick update on a couple more bits and bobs I've managed to do this weekend.  Last weekend, I mentioned that I spent some time digging out the growing lights and setting them up.  The seedlings that have been germinating on the Super 7 propagators have come on quite well but have started to get very leggy.  I don't think they are at the stage where I should be potting them on though as the stems are a bit too thin, especially the tomato seedlings.  So I've decided that I should try putting them on the heated propagator and under lights 24-7 to try and bring them on a bit more.  Lets see how that goes.

The onions are coming on slowly, but have been lost for some reason.  One important observation that I've made though is that germination of the seed laid under the vermiculite hasn't germinated as well as the seed sown just in normal compost.  The aubergine seeds have germinated well though and I am hoping that now they are under lights 24-7 that they will continue to develop healthily.

Earlier this week, I also received a delivery of our seed potatoes.  This year, we are going to grow 3 varieties.  One early (actually a second early) and two main crop varieties.  The second early variety are Charlotte.  We have grown these in the past and have had reasonable success with them, although this season I think they were a little bit smaller than normal.  The next two varieties are Cara which again we have grown previously and the new one, Sarpo Mira.

The plan for these is to grow Cara and Charlotte in containers, and with the added availability of a bit more ground to use, I'm looking at growing the Sarpo Mira in the ground.  I've put the Charlotte potatoes out to start chitting but I will hold off for another few weeks before putting the main crops out.