Sowing the seeds

Sunday 18th March 2012
Not a very nice day, a cold wind, rain and hail.

Today was a day for working inside.

I worked in the dining room, temporarily converted into a potting shed, and Sue in the kitchen (bakery).

For me, it was time to sow some of the more tropical veg seeds - peppers, chillis, aubergines, borlotti beans, celery and celeriac. The brassicas too, sprouts, cauli, red cabbage, Romanesco broccoli. Most of these plants need a long growing season for the harvest to mature and ripen, so they'll be in the ground or in the greenhouse as soon as the risk of frost has gone. By this time, I hope they'll be thriving young plants.

Late evening came out nice so I decided to have a perusal of the garden. The garlic bulbs and shallots I saved from last year and planted mid winter have sprung up well. A bit more growth and I should be able to take the netting off. The chickens are most definitely not allowed in the veg patch now!

Talking about the chickens, Elvis put in a rare appearance this evening. The first set of eggs we put under her failed to hatch, but as she stayed sat we put another three eggs under her. She has now been sat for over forty days! At least now she occasionally comes out for exercise and to dust bath.

Elvis on exercise. Baby Guinea is still hanging on in there.

A clear evening sky meant that Jupiter and Venus shone bright in the late evening sky. I tried aiming the telescope at them, but it's not an astronomical telescope so I just saw two larger blobs of glaring white planet. I then discovered that if I turned the scope out of focus, Jupiter got bigger and I could make out its moons.

I turned in to try some of Sue's bread. Yummy!