Sowing preparation and an update

Saturday is sowing preparation day and we got out the bags of seeds for April.

We have about 30 varieties to sow this month and one succulent, the bromeliad, to propagate by splitting. We have decided to defer sowing some of the flowers to ensure we have enough space for the Heritage plants so on Monday we will be sowing into three quarter trays and one margarine tub – details on Monday! We also have two Heritage varieties to be sown direct outside – Radish Crimson Giant and Beetroot Devoy. It looks set to be warming up, but will take a few days for the ground to be warm enough for sowing so we won’t rush to sow the outdoor varieties.
Finally, all seventeen varieties of tomato have germinated:

The earliest sown, San Marzano is ready to be transferred to larger pots and several others like Aunt Madge are coming along steadily.Once they have been pricked out in to modules, about 48 will be ready for transfer to Serpentine, and 21 will be planted here at “Detached”.

We currently have just under 1000 seedlings in the conservatory and we decided that two of the Heritage peas, Telephone and Magnum Bonum could be planted out, the first in a planter and the other ready to grow up the “climbing frame”. So a little bit of indoor space has been freed up. It will only be temporary!