15/3/25 - Sowing, Germination and Pricking Out

Welcome to the latest allotment diary from our allotment plot in Herefordshire, UK.  I haven't had any time to get onto the plot during the week this week, so that makes for a busy weekend.  Best I get one with it then!

Tomatoes - Did I go too soon?

Whether I got 'influenced' by some of the YouTube channels I follow, or my plan is going well and this was what was supposed to happen, I don't know.  Today, I've had to take out the tomato plants taken from under the grow lights as they were getting too tall!  The top leaves were growing above the height of the lights. The next best place I can put them at the moment is on the kitchen windowsill which catches the sun for most of the day.  It's good in some ways, but it feels way too early to put them into the polytunnel as there are still some frosts around.  To help with deciding when moving them up to the plot is right, I have a 4th sacrificial plant which I have moved up today and I will monitor over the coming week to see if there are any ill affects.

Sowing and pricking out at home.

Before I went up the plot today, I had a few jobs to do at home.  First up was some sowing.  I filled 3 1/4 sized seed trays with compost and made 3 different sowings.  First up were our Cucumber La Diva seeds, followed by a tray of Chives Polyvit before finally a tray of Kale Black Tuscan.  All 3 of these are on the windowsill on the Garland Super7 propagator.  Hopefully we will see something start to come through in as little as 1 week.

Earlier in the year, I sowed a 1/2 seed tray of Marigold (African) Hot Stuff.  They seemed to start off well, putting out their second pair of leaves before stalling somewhat.  I've taken that as a sign to prick them out and pot them on.  They've gone into cells and I've also taken them up to the polytunnel and put them into the small grow tent inside the polytunnel to make sure they have that extra bit of protection in the cooler nights.

Pricking out in the polytunnel.

The first job for the day on the plot was to take a look at my emergency sowings of Bedfordshire Champion onions.  A few posts ago, I said that I had to tip out two trays of onions due to fungus issues in the compost.  It wasn't too late to play catchup so I made some emergency sowings.  These sowings have certainly flourished and have come up in double quick time.  I had two 1/4 seed trays in reserve, so today I pricked out one of those trays, and potted them on into cells.

I've kept one of the tray back for another week or so and I will probably prick those out towards the end of the month.  They all look a but floppy and droopy at the moment, but they should all perk up in the warmth of the polytunnel.

Polytunnel roundup.

While the plot itself is slowly beginning to wake up from winter, all the main actions is still going on inside the polytunnel.  The rocket sowing I made a few weeks ago has come on very well.  It won't be long before I will need to start thinking about potting it on.  Also, the Dahlia's that I pricked out a week or two ago have perked up post transplant and look like they are staying strong.

Generally, everything on the suspended staging shelves are doing really well.  The sweet peas are pushing roots out the bottom of their cells, so as soon as the weather picks up a bit more, I'll be potting them on though I'll probably keep them indoors a little bit longer.

Both sowings of leeks are doing well.  Originally I hoped that I would get two successional plantings from the two sowings, but what has actually happened is that the second sowing has just caught up with the first sowing, and they all look quite equal now.  It will be some time yet before I consider planting them out anyway, so they'll be quite happy in the polytunnel for now.

Surprise of the week has to be the pricked out onions (Ailsa Craig) from a month or so ago.  They really seem to have put on a growth spurt and are beginning to thicken up and stand quite tall now.  

We also have the first signs of germination of our peas, sown into gutters only a couple of weeks ago.  There was talk from a fellow plot holder that she was considering direct sowing her peas this week.  Personally, I think it's still a bit too early for that.  There are more frosts forecast, and while they may not be particularly harsh, they will still keep a check on the soil temperatures.  

Polytunnel temperatures.

Over the last month or so, even during a reasonably mild few days, the weekly min/max temperatures have been relatively stable hitting the high 30's touching 40, but dropping down to just below freezing at night.  I'll be resetting the thermometer a bit more often in the coming weeks, rather than just once a week.  When I start seeing the minimum temperature dropping to +4 or 5 degrees, then I'll feel a bit more confident in putting some of the more delicate sowings into the polytunnel.

General plot update (without photos!)

Elsewhere around the plot, slowly but surely I am crossing off those little winter and spring jobs that need doing,  In the mini polytunnel, I have fully uncovered the other half of the bed and given it a light rake over.  We have taken a harvest of Broccoli from inside the tunnel this week, and the cauliflower plants continue to grow nicely.  I have started to use Veg Plotter to plan what I will be growing in there through this year, with the aim of growing into the end of autumn, and possibly over-wintering some crops in there to be picked through next winter.

I've also uncovered the other half of bed 7, currently home to half a bed of broad beans.  The unused half is soon to be used for the first transplants of cauliflower.  When they get transplanted out into the bed, they'll be kept under cloches for a while, just to help them get established without being at the full mercy of the weather.

In bed 10 (the carrot bath), the seedlings have continued to grow, although the signs at the moment are that germination isn't 100% successful - although it would be a bit foolish to expect it to be.  It's been much easier to gauge germination after sowing the seeds in a logical grid this year.  It's easier to spot gaps in a grid pattern rather than a traditional row where the dispersion of sown seed isn't consistent.

This week, we've also taken a small harvest of broccoli from the over wintered plants in bed 2.  They are plants of the sprouting type as opposed to the single large heads of a calabrese, but they are much smaller that the purple sprouting broccoli we grew through last winter.  I don't know how long these little plants will produce a harvest for, but we have given them until May which is when they will be replaced by a different crop.