1/2/26 - Bean Update and Sowing Starts Again

Trying to learn my lessons from last year, I'm seriously trying to persuade myself that I am not miles behind everyone else when it comes to sowing, but that I am in fact, still ahead of where I really need to be.  But, when boredom steps in and I'm looking for something to do, there's always the allotment!

It's turned out to be a busy weekend, but this week has also seen it's first minor failure of the season.  Let's get that bit of badness out of the way first...

Our onion sowings were started several weeks ago, and while germination was generally good, half on one tray didn't actually germinate very well.  Nevertheless, the rest of the seedlings were looking fine, so I sowed another 1/4 tray of onion seeds to top up the levels and didn't think much else of it.  But then I took my eye off the ball for a bit.  After germination, onion seedlings should really be removed from any heat.  But I didn't.  Not only that, I also didn't keep on top of the watering and that resulted in the rest of the one tray failing, and in the good tray, some of the seedlings also failing.  We're not quite in 'start again' territory, but more onion sowings have been needed.  I've done another two 1/4 seed trays and have put them onto the heat mat for germination, but will remove them as soon as we're there.

On the subject of sowing, this weekend has also seen the sowing of both varieties of leeks (Lyon Prize taker and Musselburgh) in large pots.  The leeks and the remains of what onion seedlings have survived have been moved up to the polytunnel and left in wet trays to keep them watered.  

This weekend has also seen the sowing of the sweet pepper plants.  We are staying with the Asti mixed variety which we had last year, mainly because there was a lot of seed left.  There is no room on the plan for hot peppers this year because we ate far more of the sweet peppers last year and had a disappointing year for the hot varieties.  I've sown to 1/4 tray of 2 seeds and left them on a mat to germinate.  Once germinated, all plants will be grown on under lights and on mats until such a time that they can survive in the polytunnel.

Elsewhere on the plot, there's no real advance with the Great Bean Experiment.  We're still waiting for those first signs of germination, and so other than topping up the water, there's nothing to see there.

We have seen germination of the sweet peas though.  This is roughly about a month after them being sown into their modules.  Not every module has come up yet, but there is plenty of time.  I expect they have only starting appearing in the last 3 days.  The really gratifying thing about this load of sweet peas is that they have all come from saved seed.  I haven't spent a penny on them this year 😁.  Again, just a top up of water into their tray is all that was needed.

Away from the sowing, today I harvested our first red cabbage.  It's still a bit small, and the plants were originally intended to be ready for Christmas, but some things you just can't rush.  The mini polytunnel has also been cleared out, and to start getting it ready for the Spring, it's had a couple of wheelbarrow loads of the new manure mix that has been supplied to the site.

The last of the heads of broccoli was also harvest from the polytunnel.  In an ideal world, I would have liked to have left the stems in the ground and allow them to grow smaller tender stems for a second harvest.  But room is at a premium in the tunnel and I needed to get some more organic matters into the bed where they stood, ready for later this season.  I could have potentially been waiting for a couple more months before getting anything meaningful off those plants, so I pulled them up.  Waiting in the wings though are the sprouting broccoli plants overwintering in one of the outdoor beds.  Hopefully, they will come into harvest by late March or so and we can use those instead.

Also in the polytunnel, I had to sacrifice two cauli plants.  The two nearest the door were by far the weakest plants, and didn't look very healthy at all.  So I chose to pull those up, and in their place, put the raised carrot bed which I built last year, down in their place and then filled it with the spent compost from last year, topped up with sieved compost and manure, before adding a can of water.  I'll leave it to settle for a week or two, and then will top it up with more compost after it has settled before sowing the first load of carrots for 2026.

This week, I'll be starting to chit the potatoes, particularly the first earlies, so they will then take their place in the potato tubs in around 4 to 6 weeks time.  A new month also means a new job list in Veg Plotter Pro, so as well as indoor carrots, I need to prepare the bath for the outdoor carrots, and also sow the aubergines and tomatoes for 2026 too.  Potentially, I may also need to pot on the first of the onion seeds next weekend.  We shall see!