OwnGrown

Planted 4 aubergine plants end April in well manured soil

Sowed Mange Tout end April. see last year’s entries for detail.

Sowed 2 seeds per Jiffy pot indoors of same courgettes as last year - Defender and Jenner. Will have 2 plants of each type outdoors later and this is more than enough for the average family. These start germinating one week after sowing, are put outside under cloches ten days later and were planted in their final postion about 2′ apart in soil that had been well manured..

A week or so early but the spring has been very warm so it should be safe to sow runner beans Enorma. These were sown 8″ apart 2 seeds per station in rows 2′ apart. Some will fail and they will be thinned to 1 seed per station. When they start to appear, canes will be used in straight rows. An alternative, particularly if space is restricted, is to plant in a circle with canes tied at the top to form a wigwam. These start germinating about two weeks later and will be reduced to one seed per station where necessary when about 6″ high.

Seeds were planted in 10 Jiffy pots indoors at the end of March for an earlier crop than usual. A mistake as they took off and have had to be transplanted outside under cloches in late April. They will probably be OK but maybe not if the weather turns cold. Nothing lost - they will be sown again in mid May outdoors (see entry for last year).

A complete section of lemon grass growing in a pot was sliced off the plant using a sharp knife straight down into the root. The straggly pieces at the top were cut off and the the bottom 6 - 8″ put into a jar of water to grow roots before being planted in a pot. This picture shows the plant in water and a small piece of the original root. Alternatively you can use lemon grass from a supermarket and put this in water as described for last year.

Two weeks earlier than usual due to the warm weather we have the first cutting of asparagus. Cut using a sharp knife 1″ beneath the surface. A little over 2 lbs (1 kg) was cut in the first week.

The plain leaved parsley, sometimes called French or Italian, is milder than the more common (in the UK) curly leaved variety with what many consider to be a finer flavour. They can be sown directly outside at this time of the year but have been sown in small Jiffy pots inside for later planting in the same pots outside. Don’t grow them as you see in the supermarkets with multiple plants all together resulting in weak, straggy plants with little flavour.

Sown in small Jiffy pots - about 4 seeds per pot which will be reduced to one plant per pot later. These are left in a propagator inside as they need high temperatures to germinate and will be planted outside in early June near the tomatoes, in full sun and out of the wind.

This is very fast growing. This first sowing will be followed by others at three to four week intervals. The seedlings are thinned to 6″ apart and should be ready for use in about four weeks. Rocket may run to seed in hot weather.