My Garden

I mentioned on Friday that the seedlings in the conservatory weren't getting enough light and that I'd installed a growlight. Well, to help things along even more I also made a 'light box' - a light-reflecting seedling box. Sounds fancy, doesn't it? Actually, it's just a three-sided, topless box lined with silver foil! The foil reflects the light at the back and bottom of the seedlings, so they get light from all sides and don't tend to become too stretched. Now, where's my Blue Peter badge?!

I also sowed my three trial cos lettuces, following the method used by the Trials Department at Wisley - using a dibber to sow three seeds in each cell of a P40 cell tray filled with a peat-reduced compost; although I only used 30 cells, 10 of each cultivar. The tray was then put in the conservatory, along with all my other seeds, to germinate

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It's all gone quiet over here! No blogs from me for 11 days. The reason? I succumbed to 'man flu' and didn't get out into the garden last weekend, and have only just made it back into the office. So what's been happening?

Well, not a lot really - on my behalf anyway. My veg, on the other hand, have been quite busy. Most of the first batch of pots of greenhouse and patio crops have germinated and I now have pots of seedlings growing rapidly. Because light levels are so low in the conservatory where the propagators are, I've rigged up a growing light to help give them a boost. They'll probably be ready to transplant in a week or so's time. The beetroot and carrots in the Rootrainers in the cold frame have germinated and are growing nicely; the broad beans have started and I even think my 'chancy' French beans might be coming to something

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What a difference a week makes! After last weekend's swampy weather, this weekend was full of glorious spring sunshine. Saturday wasn’t spent in the garden though. I drove down to Chelmsford to make my regular monthly guest appearance on Down to Earth on BBC Essex with Ken Crowther. Our main subject was lawns and lawncare and, judging by the number of questions and phonecalls we received, there were a lot of people out gardening.

Sunday was spent gardening. After a spot of tidying up and then the annual pruning of the roses and clematis it was on to the veg garden. A few weeds had dared to raise their heads above ground so these were quickly dealt with. I then tidied up the overwintering crops, removing any dead or damaged leaves from the purple-sprouting broccoli, spring cabbages, spinach and chard. The broccoli had actually produced a few heads, so these were picked and made a delicious addition to Sunday evening's meal

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What a miserable weekend! Weather-wise that is. I decided to spend Sunday gardening, as I had lots of other things to catch up with on Saturday - not least, watching Liverpool v ManU. I've got a couple of friends who are massive Liverpool supporters and I knew/hoped this would be a great opportunity to take the mick out of them - and how right I was!

So Sunday morning comes and so does the rain; a good opportunity to stay in and catch up with The Archers Omnibus. At 11.15am it's still pelting down, so there's nothing for it, but to venture out in the wet-weather gear. I actually like being out in the cold and the rain - as long as I'm wearing the right clothing. Even though it poured down all day, I managed to get plenty done in the veg garden

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