Next hurdle… and would they survive…?
It’s all well and good to happily watch your planted seeds appear as seedlings… first success – but now I have to thin them! A delicate looking task for the salad leaves and the beetroot… and I read the packets carefully, plus dived into the main reference book I’ve got to hand – The Vegetable & Herb Expert, by Dr D.G. Hessayon. I’ve decided to leave the carrots for now, as they need to get a little bigger. For those who are remotely interested, this main bed measures just about 13ft by 4ft, with permanent Rosemary and Bay shrubs at the far end. The lettuce tray is 4ft square.
The protected veggie patch.
Armed with all sorts of tools… (including tweezers!), I set about thinning. I had to remove the cloche frame from the lettuce tray for this and hadn’t got the heart to throw away lots of seedlings, so created two new rows. While it took sometime, was very satisfying.
You will notice I’ve also put the tray of courgette and dwarf bean plants in with the lettuce for the time being, so they get used to being outside, but are protected from the elements. I think they need a bit more growth before going out properly and I don’t want any late frosts getting them.
Underneath the cloche, survival of the fittest!
Having completed the salad leaves, set about the same task with the beetroot. With both these, I’m not sure if I’ve thinned enough, so may have to remove a few more in time. The good news is, the seedlings recovered from the operation and have continued to grow :). In future, (assuming this continues next year) I’m going to try and devise a way of spreading the seeds out more, when first sowing to hopefully help the thinning process.
Didn’t have the heart to throw away the thinnings, so created another row!
Quick close up of the courgette and dwarf bean plants, they continue to do ok outside with the salad leaf babies for now…. but….
The triffids continue to like their new home in with the lettuce… for now.
I did have one fatality… I must have just weakened the stem when putting the splint wire round… my bad 🙁
The first fatality.
Apart from moving them forward so they get a bit more sunlight, the raspberry and blueberry plants continue to do well and show growth. The pile of bricks to the right hand side is another task to move and make more room and you can see the piles of pots at the back that have been washed, sized and will be re-used as necessary :).
The raspberry and blueberry plants continue to grow well.
Next blog… while I’m using everything available to hand, have invested in something new … 🙂