A lizard in the greenhouse

No animals were harmed in the making of this film.

Greenhouse mid-Feb sowings

On 12 February we sorted through all the packets of seeds we've accumulated, wondering where to start. We just sorted them into four piles; sow NOW, sow end Feb, sow March, sow later. Wearing wellies equals quick decisions, clearly. When it comes to more sophisticated, sequential planting, we can always fine-tune next week or next month or whenever we'll be more organised. A is VERY GOOD at sowing and enjoyed using her brand new tools for dibbing?? and patting?? (I'll find out what they're called.) The image shows part of the new set of seedlings: two types of tomato (Marmand and Gardener's Delight), parsley, brassica oleracea gemmifera i.e. Brussels sprouts, artichokes, mixed leaf.

Oh yes, the greenhouse

Here's a short clip on the state of play in the greenhouse at the start of February. On the whole, it's a bit messy, yes. But if you look carefully at the exciting array of gardening items on the top ledge, you can see the trays of seeds A has planted. There are two varieties of sweet peas in the tray on the left and broad beans in the tray on the right.

Acquisitions

We're keeping an eye on our spending, recording every single purchase. This week, we compared prices of seeds and decided to order a number of vegetable seeds from the Organic Gardening Catalogue to add to our small collection. We also bought six 56 litre bags of organic gardening manure (for the potato beds) and four 2.5 bags of seed potatoes from Notcutts, one each from the "first early", "second early", "main crop" and "late crop", to be harvested in July, August, September and October respectively. Or so we hope.

We also bought two 6 pack autumn raspberry canes in containers. When we showed these to B, he told us about another plot he has just cleared, previously tended by a Canadian. B suggested we could help ourselves to the fruit bushes he had dug up from this plot a few weeks ago. B thinks they're good enough to be re-planted.

Well, here's a photo of the 'Canadian' plot without the blackcurrant, the redcurrant and the mother-and-baby gooseberry bushes!

A bath has appeared

Our greenhouse has gutters but no water butt. So it made sense to ask B (who has lots of bits and pieces on his plots) if he was aware of any going free. By 8 January a tin bath was sitting there next to our greenhouse. It's apparently very resistant to frost. Well, not quite what we had in mind but we are getting used to the idea. All we need to do now is to find a downpipe diverter and a cover to stop evaporation.