HOW QUICK SEEDLINGS GROW WITH CARE

Today has been a day for checking  all my seeds that i had sown about 20 days ago and i must say that they have nearly all germinated and have turned into some very nice young plants. The seeds that i thought i would have had a problem with was the sweet peppers but to my surprise they have all germinated and are looking very strong. It has proved to me that i done the right thing by making a nursery box out of fibre glass insulation board  which holds the heat in and also  provides light from above. I must say that at the moment i have been having trouble with my camera so i am hoping to have it back on saturday so that i can post a few photos  for all to see. The other plants that are coming along ok are some early sown  tomato seeds  and i think i will be able to repot them this week end into 3inch pots . I am hoping that by next wednesday my cabbage seed will arrive so that i can get them started, i have ordered kilaxy cabbage and clapton cauliflower. When these seeds germinate and are big enough to handle  they will be grown in 16ltr buckets so that is going to be interesting for me as i have not grown them in buckets before. Going on to manure,  i would like to say that for many years i  like most gardeners  use horse manure for there gardens and always get good results but i do have to say that if there is any one who has a health problem which  stops them from turning the manure  in to the ground  try a bag of 6x and you will be surprised at the results. With 6x you dont have to use bucketfuls, but only handfuls. I used it last year and although i did not achieve much in the garden , i did notice is that i did not get any knat fungi or any other insect around the bottom of my oinions- beens  and tomatos. The 6x comes completely clean and sterilized which it tells you on the bag. I know it is around £11-00 a bag but as far as i am concerned it is well worth the money and time. TRY IT IT IS VERY STRONG. You can also use a liquid feed with it if you wish to.

SOWING THIS YEARS FLOWER SEEDS

Because it has been a lovely day i took advantage of  it and started to sow the flower seeds. As i have said in one of my bloggs i do sow certain seeds a bit earlier than most. the ones i have sown today are
3x20  CELS of GODETIAS
3X20 CELS OF ASTERS
3X20 CELS OF DAHLIAS
3X20 CELS LIVINGSTONE DAISIES
2X20 CELS OF AFRICAN MARRIGOLDS
I have already sown the lobelia seeds a week ago and they are on the window sill. the rest of the seeds will be sown at a later date. I also checked my chrysanthemum cuttings which i took of last years stools and they are also looking good.
Changing the  subject a little bit , i have been offered 2 big wooden boxes today the size being 4ftx2ftx2ft6" so i am hoping to use them for stump carrots.These boxes are brand new and all i will have to do is to treat them for the weather as they will be out  in the open. Going on to onions i found that my latest sowing are now producing there secondary leaves and are looking really good so i will be giving them a little tonic just to boost them on a bit. I must say that they have not had the treatment of 24hrs lighting so i am not expecting them to be anything like the size of  dan unsworth or even paul bastows but at the end of the day they will be suitable for shows providing all goes well. up date later on.

JUST ABOUT FINISHED

As the title says i have just about come to the end of finishing my mix for the carrots and parsnips. It has been fairly hard work this year with the mixing and i have to put it down to my bad health which since last easter i have got to use a breathing  machine. Any how i do not intend to dwell on it but  just keep going as long as i can.I have noticed a lot of gardeners are really concentrating on there shallots this year. I my self wont be growing any this year in the ground as i am limited to space but i will try a few in a couple of buckets and see how we get on.  Re to the parsnips, i will be growing Duches fi and i have read that they are good to cook and also suitable for showing so again it is going to be trial and error as i have very little experience with them.

                                                          FLOWER  TIME
Now i have almost sorted my veg out for this year i will be now start sowing flower seed as i do have quite a few different sorts to deal with . As usual every year we wonder what kind of summer we are going to have and because of not knowing i myself always start a little bit early. It is not a problem growing  the seed it is when you have to prick out  and find space for them to grow on before planting them out in the garden. What i am going to do is to make a triple shelf stand with cover  big enough to take about 400 young plants of mixed flowers and have them facing  south by the side of one of my small green houses. Obvious this wont take place untill late march -early april which by then we should start to get some good weather.
Finaly my ailsae  onions are now coming on great, these are the ones i grew from a bulb in 2009.I am not expecting to have huge ones this year but as long as i know they will grow to a decent size i can try for big ones next year.

CARROT MIX WITH KILN DRIED SAND

Not being able to get silver sand for carrot mix  i bought a bag of kiln dried sand and done a few mixes  today and i was very pleased with the texture. Know doubt  this is going to be trial and error this year as it will be completely different to what i used last year . I am hoping that with another ingredient added i might get some very good long carrots which will be grown in pipes and  I will also use the same mix with my stump carrots which i will grow in pop bottles. Some gardeners say you should not grow them in the same place every year because of getting disease. In some way i do believe that to be the case but i think that if your ground has been treated with a disinfectant of some sort it should be ok. For many years now i have always grown my onions in the ground  and the next year it would be in buckets and i have not really had a problem. As to the carrots they have always been grown in  pop bottles in the same spot with new compost  and not soil and the results have always been good. The results at the end of the growing year is going to be interesting especially if i do well at a few shows.

KILN DRIED SAND

Having heard so much about using silver sand for certain mixes i went to different  builders merchants  and believe it or not i could not get any at all,but i did managed to fine some kiln dried sand in an unusual out let so i thought to my self i will give it a try.I was  choked when they told me the price of it  which was £4-00 a bag but there if you need it you got to pay for it. The question i now ask is what quantity do you use in the mixes for carrots? Last year i used a  mix containing just sieved compost  bone meal and water gel and really speaking they did not turn out to bad but i dont think they would have been good enough for showing.  As every one will be  suffering with this spell of cold weather there will be a lot of gardeners who will start to worry about there plants(onions)  and trying to keep the frost out of there green houses. As i said in one of my bloggs i use a lot of news paper on top of  fleece to make sure  that the frost does not do to much damage if any. I understand from the weather reports that the cold spell is here for while.