Its sowing time again!

Yes, isn't it great when spring is around the next corner!
We now have tomato and pepper plants growing on our window sills to go eventually into the green house and polytunnel.  Cabbage and broccoli seeds sown in the polytunnel along with lots of salad seeds, leeks, and climbing French beans. In the propagator are celery, celeriac  and indoor courgette and outdoors I have sown broad beans in the gaps in the autumn sown bean beds and put in some round seeded peas (Feltham First).  I also transplanted the onion seedlings from the autumn sowing to beds (under cloches just in case!)  I have put down pieces of polycarbonate on the beds to warm up the soil for early sowing of carrots etc. Buisy already in the garden!
In the wood the coppicing is coming to an end for this season; maybe two more weeks at the most.  There is lots of space for planting new trees but we may leave the planting till next autumn as the trees we have growing from seed are still quite small.  We have lots of chestnut and some hazel timber to cut and dry for fuel and some for planking as well.
Happy days!

Spring is coming!

Now the winter solstice is past and the days are gradually getting longer I have started to think about spring.  I had a busy Christmas break but manged to fit in sorting our seed stock.  As we save our own seeds we always have lots (even one plat produces loads more seeds than we use in a year!)  And now is the beginning of the time to sow them.  Have sown in the poly tunnel - lettuce, rocket, radish, carrot, peas, spinach, red and white beetroot, pak choi and mizuna.  Next week I will sow (in a propagator) tomato, pepper and indoor courgette. In the poly tunnel will go spring brascicas and a few leeks.  Meanwhile in the wood the coppicing goes on and we are planting trees in the spaces opened up. I am starting to think the winter wont be long enough for all the jobs I have planned for it! (only joking)
Happy gardening (between snow)

First frost

This years first frost on Wednesday night - .5 degrees .  I had harvested the squashes and out door tomatoes (those that hadn't been blighted!) and fleeced the outdoor peppers and (partly) fleeced the runner beans.  The beans seem to have survived well, half the nasturtiums survived (i cant see why some caught the frost and some didn't!  ) I planted onions and garlic and prepared the soil for planting broad beans next week.  last year I planted the broad beans too early (early October) and many didn't survive the hard winter. I hope to have better results this year.  Working today in the woodland preparing for the Green Woodworking workshop on Sunday.  Starting to coppice 40 year old chestnuts which gives us a chance to harvest the nuts before the squirrels get them!