It's Early February - Time to Start Sowing Seeds

Plot early February – sowing seeds!

Well, I’ve managed to restrain myself this year from sowing too early though, in spite of the very mild spring-like weather I’ve been sorely tempted.

Just as well as early February has turned bitterly cold and wintery and, I really didn’t think it would happen! Really, I don’t think it will last too long so I’m getting on with spring!

Each year I waste about three packets of seeds by sowing on the outside edge of what is possible for the species and varieties though, that said, in co-operative years it can work. This year though, I’m being hustled by my son who took on his allotment last year and lives in the ‘cold north’ but, he is showing me how it should be done and putting me to shame. I keep saying he is too early but, his conditions are different from mine. He has better growing conditions in his house and has a glasshouse. Last year, in spite of being in the North East he had tomatoes ripe at least, a month before mine. I think he should be writing this blog!

Seed packets say we can sow parsnips from February onwards and, in the past, [mild winters], this has worked well for me. Similarly, early sowing varieties of carrots can be sown from February onwards – this has never worked for me!

This year, for both of these vegetables I will wait until March for sowing.

But, today I have got out my seed packets and sown chillis [Joe’s Long – my favourites]; leeks – Musselburgh; tomato –F1 Fantasio and Alicante seeds. I have put them in trays in my propagator which is wonderful but always gives me a problem with providing enough light as soon as the seeds have germinated.

Today, I took my germinated sweet-peas to my poly-tunnel. These should have been sown in November for best results but, this year I have sown them at home during January. They are very hardy plants and, in the past, I have sown them in pots at home in November before taking them to my cold poly-tunnel as soon as they had appeared – even last year when it was so bitterly cold. They were then planted out as soon as the ground allowed me to dig holes to plant them in and to raise the 8ft cane ‘wigwams’ for them to climb up. I’m being more cautious this year. They were okay last year and were fairly productive but, I’ve had better.

Of course broad beans should have been sown in the autumn to avoid black fly and to achieve an early crop. I chitted my seeds then planted into pots as soon as they had sprouted in the autumn which were then planted out in November. This can be a really good ploy though, last year it was not great. Of course, the winter was particularly harsh and although I did have a crop, it was disappointing. I have done much the same this year except that I have included a spring sowing to cover my options. I covered the autumn sowings with fleece to protect them from the forecasted very harsh winter which has not, so far, materialised. It then seemed that slugs were enjoying this protected environment and were happily noshing on my bean plants. So, I removed the fleece in time for the early February frosts. While this has knocked the plants back somewhat, I think they will recover. And, covering my options, today I have sown more broad beans straight into the ground. My children say they have no problems with germinating beans from direct sowing so, this year I will follow their advice!

The ground on my plot is still a bit on the wet side and is too wet for digging though, on various occasions over the winter, there have been good opportunities for digging and I now feel that I am, more-or-less, on top of the digging to go into spring.

Over the last few weeks I have been sorting out my fruit cages; tidying; removing overgrown or finished brassicas; making sure my poly-tunnel is ready for the spring [this involves scrubbing the algae growth from the inside and outside of the membrane, patching where vandals had damaged the membrane, watering the soil regularly to ensure it doesn’t dry out, fixing the door where storms have damaged it]. I think I might have to buy a new membrane for it next year as the present one is becoming quite damaged though, if I can, I will patch it to make it last another couple of years. I find this concept quite peculiar as, where I had lived before in the west of Ireland, we had expected to replace the polythene for most of our tunnels every year following severe storm damage.

Here in the gentle south west, how could I possibly complain?