There’s has been lots of progress this past month, here’s some of my highlights on my vegetable plot and greenhouse. The greenhouse has been great in the cold, windy and wetter weather. Seeds have still been germinating in approximately 7 to 10 days. And there’s still room in the greenhouse which is great.

Yesterday the greenhouse went up to 30 degrees Celsius in the sunshine (18 degrees outside) and it still isn’t summer yet in the UK.

Pak Choi and Lettuce Romaine Planted Out

At the beginning of April, the Pak Choi were only seedlings not even filling a cell tray, then mid April they were potted on and yesterday they were planted out into a raised bed.

I may have sowed too many Pak Choi (and there’s still 5 plants in the greenhouse) but I can’t bare to waste any plants so 9 have been planted out in the raised bed. I can’t actually believe they are growing so well. The variety I am growing is called Summer Breeze F1 and is very bolt resistant just in case we get some hot weather anytime soon.

There’s still time to sow Pak Choi, see my post: Sowing Pak Choi in Mar to May for a Summer Sowing

The lettuce sowed inside the greenhouse has been growing well and again potted on in Mid April and 4 plants have been planted out next to the Pak Choi in the raised beds.

Early Peas planted out in Early April are flowering and podding

Early Pea variety Oskar which was planted outside on 9 April after a rocky start due to high winds and lots of rain has survived and is now flowering with white flowers and I even spotted a pea pod forming yesterday. Read more about Very Early Peas.

More Peas (Avola and Twinkle) planted outside

The next batch of Peas for my project of Peas all year have been planted out onto a different pole and twine structure. One side has Avola which goes to 60cm high and the other side I have Twinkle growing to 45cm high which has double pods. There is also room underneath the arch structure for some green leaves or lettuce.

The next batch of Peas called Rosakrone with unique red and white flowers and are very tall growing have been growing since 22 April and will be ready to plant out in Mid May.

French Beans and Climbing Beans seeds sown

This year I’m growing French Beans – Sprite a low growing slim green bean plant and Climbing Beans called Cherokee Trail of Tears.

Seeds have been sowed on 30 April, ready to plant out Mid to Late May.

Sweetcorn has germinated

Sweetcorn has been sown 2 seeds per pot by my daughter, she loves the sweet corn we did last year from plants. We are sowing a different variety this year called Earlibird F1. The sweetcorn seeds were sown 15 April and have now germinated.

Kohl Rabi and Calabrese labels got mixed up

There’s always one mishap when growing vegetables, this year I didn’t have a marker pen and wrote my labels in biro which faded in the sun in the greenhouse. I am hoping I remembered the correct layout of the Calabrese broccoli and the kohl Rabi plants as otherwise they all have to go under the netting and we shall see what we get!

Tomatoes are growing from sowing on 19 March

I’m sowing two different varieties of Tomato this year. A very early variety called Latah which is a bush tomato and a vine Italian tomato called Costoluto Genovese. The vine tomato is really pushing on with its growth and Latah is a bit slow to get going yet.

Cucumbers ‘mini munch’ seedlings are up

We have decided to grow a cucumber variety called ‘mini munch’ for my daughter who loves cucumber. This variety is perfect for children, the size of the harvest is perfect for children hands. This variety is all female flowers and can be grown outside as well as in a greenhouse. It has an upright habit and can be grown in pots.

Sweet Peppers are slow growing

Sweet peppers were sown on 18 February indoors and then in mid April put in the greenhouse (unheated). The have been very slow growing due to lack of warmth but have grown their first pair of true leaves. I’m hoping when the temperature gets a little warmer they might pick up speed on growing.