15/2/26 - Rare Sunny Day

 After a break away, I've made the most of a rare dry and sunny day this weekend and done a couple of jobs outside on the plot.  Feeling the warmth of the sun makes all the difference sometimes.  Not that there was a huge amount to do, but enough to keep things ticking over.

So, starting off with a tidy up of the purple sprouting bed and the red cabbage bed.  Both beds have been left for most of the year so far and had a fair few bits of old foliage on them, so I scooped those up and then ran the hoe lightly around the edges of the beds to cut off the handful of weeds that had popped up.

I also harvested another red cabbage, leaving 3 more to grow on a bit further.  Also, it won't be long until we can start harvesting the sprouting broccoli too.

Sticking outside, it was time to do a bit of work on the carrot bath.  I've been waiting for a chance to take the cover off it and freshen it up a bit, but almost every time I have been up there lately, it's been raining.  Off with the weed membrane, and in with the fork to loosen up the compost.  I also took the opportunity to mix in some blood fish and bone too.  It's in the plan to sow half the bath this month, but I'm holding off for the time being until the weather improves a bit.  For now though, I've added the plastic lids to start warming the compost up when the sun comes out.

Inside the polytunnel, I did do a bit of sowing, taking a small cell tray and sowing some lettuce plugs.  Lettuce will grow in the cooler temperatures, but it just takes some time.  Having said that, when I left the polytunnel this weekend, inside, it was a rather pleasant 27 degrees.

Growing wise though, there's not much else to report.  No sign of leek germination and as of yet, nothing to report on the bean experiment either.  Not signs of life from either.  The onion transplants I did last weekend have some through OK, although they are still a bit limp.  The other two 1/4 trays of seedlings I took with me are still doing OK.  I decided to leave them for at least another week before considering moving those.

Back home, and on heat mats and under lights, progress is slow but steady.  Plenty of things have germinated, and the tomatoes and peppers have both been moved under lights now that they have germinated.  No sign of anything from the aubergine front as yet, but that could be a couple more weeks before we might see anything.