Terry Walton is doing plenty of sowing and sharing!
There’s plenty of sowing going on with lots of crops to share around
The usefulness of a greenhouse is very evident in my gardening these days. Without this sanctuary of warmth there’d be almost no sowing done as yet. Back in my early days of gardening, preparation was the only activity to take place at this time of year; the season was much shorter then and it was almost mid-June before any vegetables became available from the plot.
Everything had to be sown directly into the soil and to achieve any germination there was that indeterminable wait for the soil to be warm enough to even think about sowing.
These days my greenhouse is full of early crops ready to be planted out with a flying start as soon as the weather shows a break. There’s also the advantage of the use of cloches, unheard of in my youthful days, in which the ground can be pre-warmed. Plants are protected under this area to steal a march on Mother Nature.
The greenhouse still swells with an ever-increasing number of trays that are filling up with transplanted crops. I’ve enough for my needs now so it’s open house for all the other greenhouse keepers on the allotment to take the remainder. There’s never a shortage of takers for the surplus lettuce, cabbage and onion seedlings that I have. The joy of sharing is one of the great pleasures for the allotmenteer!
I’m also sowing lovely beetroot. My first sowing of ‘Boltardy’ is growing on well but it’s time to ensure a succession of this vegetable. This time I’m sowing ‘Alto’, which make long, cylindrical roots and holds well in the soil. These are sown in 20 4cm (1½in) pots at two seeds per pot and are then transplanted out under a cloche later in the spring.