Ravendale House

Today I planted the first of my potatoes, 36 Arran Pilot. They have chitted better than any of the others so are more than ready for planting out.

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Today I had planned to sow my peas, but instead I decided to plant my onion sets.

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Last night there was quite a sharp frost, the first one in what seems like ages. Thankfully all my new little plants and seedlings are tucked up warm in the conservatory. Well ‘warmish’ at least, as it isn’t heated. They all seem to be doing very well.

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We love tomatoes and always make sure we grow plenty each year. There is no finer taste than a home grown tomato eaten straight from the plant at it’s natural temperature.

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True to my word today I planted my shallots. Fifty in total which takes up more than half of one veg bed. Already I’m wondering if I might have space issues with the extra stuff I’ve sown this year, plus the red onions.

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What on earth has that man been feeding his horses on? I’ve spent another hour or more today on the first four vegetable beds that I started yesterday, and still there are great lumps of manure lying around despite all my work and some of the hardest frosts we’ve had in a while.

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Today I decided to have another go at the vegetable beds.The manure we put on in Autumn is still not amalgamated with the soil despite my attempts last month to dig it in. There are still large lumps of the stuff lying on the top making it impossible to produce the fine tilth I’ll need for sowing and planting in a week or two.

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We have quite a large vegetable garden which is made up of several individual beds separated by grass paths. This means that there is a minimum amount of wading around in mud when weeding or the like in wet weather.

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Today I decided to check on the leek seeds that I sowed on the 7th. The packet said if sown outside they would need 14 – 21 days, but I hoped on top of the central heating boiler they might be a bit quicker, and guess what? They were.

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Today I put the seed potatoes in the conservatory to sprout or ‘chit’ as it is known in gardening circles. However, it is rather cold at the moment, particularly at night and I don’t want them to freeze, so I will cover them with newspaper each evening as the temperature drops.

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