Sow satisfactory

The sowing table

The sowing season is in full swing and it's lovely to see the conservatory filling up with seedlings of all kinds. So far I've sown tomatoes, chillies, peppers, aubergines, tomatillos, leeks, peas, beetroot, most of the annual kitchen herbs (turns out lemongrass is an annual here) and some flowers. I'm waiting until the first week in April to sow all squashes and brassicas.

I've sown a bunch of salads, radishes and little round carrots under my new mini cloches, courtesy of Lidl. I've snapped up four of them and am using them to warm up the ground for the peas, protect the onions (and later the peas and brassicas) from the thieving blackbirds.

Lidl cloches in action

Unfortunately I spotted the first flower heads on our winter staple food, kale. I guess all good things must come to an end eventually, but there is still quite a lot of kale to eat in the meantime.

Kale flower 

Lots of black plastic has come off in the garden and it's so nice to see the back of it. Jim's been digging every day (shades of deja vu), but this time it's a lot easier since the plastic was down for an entire year.

The new veg growing area

The jerusalem artichokes (Fuseau) have already gone into the bit at the front of the picture. We'll probably have to stake them, but then they might provide windbreak for the new windbreak hedge.

Another new arrival in the middle paddock is rhubarb. My neighbour gave me a couple of hardy plants for my birthday. Hopefully they'll thrive in their bed, which we'd painstakenly covered in manure last autumn before covering it with more black plastic.

Birthday rhubarb

The black plastic has already been moved onto next year's new growing area, which will be a lot smaller. Jim is contemplating a little tobacco grove there. Has anybody got experience of growing tobacco from seed?

New bed for 2016

The last of the new fruit bushes are scheduled to arrive at the end of the week. I'm especially excited about the two Saskatoon berries - a taste of Canada without the long flight.

Hedged veg

Luckily, we managed to put in all 170 hedge plants and fruit trees before the weather turned nasty. So now the veg garden is hedged all around, though it may be a few years before any real protection will be had from the hedge. In the meantime, the windbreak fabric should continue to do the trick.

Barely visible hedge

This time we went for a couple of mixed hedge packs, an alluring-sounding 'edible hedge' (hazel, wild pear, crab apple, blackthorn, rosa rugosa) and the 'coastal hedge' (sea buckthorn, hawthorn, more blackthorn, rosa rugosa and alba, cotton easter).

Another view of the new hedge

Can't wait for the rest of the black plastic to come off. The next big project, other than digging all the area currently under the plastic is planting up the wind-blasted slope on the south end of the house with heathers. Hundreds of heathers.

I've been well impressed with how much veg you can grow over the winter in this country. Can't praise the winter veg enough! I lifted the last two parsnips yesterday and only five leeks left so soon we'll be down to eating mainly kale, spring cabbage, chard and swede. April will be the month with the least variety available, but the first salad leaves should already be on the menu.

Neep with a heart

Other than winter veg that are being harvested to clear bed space, there are a few overwintering veg that are starting to look good now.

Overwintering broad bean

Garlic bed

I've sown this year's tomatoes, chillies, sweet peppers and aubergines (a big thank-you to North by North for the funky additional seeds), but nothing is showing yet. Maybe just as well since the weather has gone all wintry again...

The lookout in March