20th March

Our early start to blocking the seeds looks like it has paid off.

We started all the seeds, a month earlier than we usually would, this will hopefully get us off to an earlier start in the season and harvesting our own produce.

The onions and leeks have all chitted and looking good.

All our brassicas’ seeds are now blocked, we finished them last week.

And I took another gamble.

Last week I blocked two hundred and fifty Cucumber seeds, three hundred and fifty courgette seeds and one hundred and fifty chillie seeds.

These will not stand any frost.

But they are for the moment in the greenhouse with the heater on, and the temperature is sitting at eighteen degrees.

They will be ready for planting in around two to three weeks.

Even in Mid-April we can still get frost, these plants will not survive any frost.

So, when I plant them, we will cover them with fleece and that’s in the tunnel.

The courgettes, I’m going to plant in the big cosy tunnel, and again fleece them.

We usually do two thousand courgettes out in the field, but we don’t usually start harvesting them until July.

With the courgettes in the tunnel I will hopefully start to harvest them in May/June.

The oriental salad mix that I had sown a fortnight ago, has all come through, surprising as it did get a week of minus temperatures.

This week we are going to plant the spring cabbage, ruby chard, spinach, and lettuce.

The lettuce if it comes quickly will be getting mixed in with the oriental salad, making nice tasty salad bags early in the season.

Just a note to remind you, the nets go up by £1.00 on the 1st of March, and the fruit by £0.50.

Please remember to leave your nets out for your driver.