Pea’s have been planted out and are shooting up

I sowed my Peas in root trainers on 20th March and planted them out towards the end of April. They have been in the ground for 2 weeks now and settled in and have started to shoot up the netted wigwams.

They have not been protected with anything and have been open to the elements and frost but early peas are hardy and have proven themselves to be this year. The warm weather has kick started their growth as has this weeks April showers in May.

Pea varieties I’m growing this year:

• Kelvedon Wonder
• Feltham First

Tomatoes have finally got 4 leaves…

My tomatoes and sweet peppers have been extremely slow to grow this year, simply because there has not been enough heat. I don’t have a heated greenhouse or heated conservatory so they have been under a plastic cover and in our shed next to the window. The shed gets really warm when the sun hits it daily so I have been using it’s heat to try and get some sort of germination on my tomatoes. Eventually and finally the tomatoes have turned up.

Tomato varieties I’m growing this year:

• Pink Grape (Cherry size)
• Crimson crush F1 (blight resistant)
• Gold Rush (Current size)

The Mini greenhouse is packed already!!

I have a four shelved mini greenhouse and 2 shelves are already packed with potted on vegetables.

Vegetables in the Mini Greenhouse:

• Last week’s sowing of Sweetcorn – nothing germinated yet.
• Last week’s sowing of Squash, Pumpkin and Cucumber – nothing germinated yet.
• Last weeks sowing of green lettuce – germinated,
• Tomatoes and sweet peppers – only just got 4 leaves, leaving to grow more before potting on.
• Potted on 1st sowing of red lettuce,
• Potted on 1st sowing of perpetual spinach,
• Potted on 1st sowing of Swiss Chard (White),
• Potted on Savoy Cabbage,
• Potted on Brussels Sprouts,
• Established and ready to plant out pot of Marigolds.

Vegetables Planted out this week:

The last frost has now apparently passed in this area of south Essex and therefore I have been brave and planted out the following this week as a tester to see if they survive. I have kept back more seedlings just in case they don’t survive, I can try again when the potted on plants are a bit bigger.

• Red Lettuce
• Swiss Chard
• Perpetual Spinach
• Marigolds
• Sunflowers
• Moved some onions from the strawberry bed to the onion bed.