Seed sowing frenzy!

After the balmy (or should that be barmy?) weather of the past few days, with temperatures and sunshine well above average for the time of year, I thought it was time to get a wriggle on and sow some of my tender crops. The tomatoes and chillies have been enjoying the sunshine and warmth of my mini greenhouse and so it's time they had company. Talking of which, the mini greenhouse has been a real bonus to me this year, with seeds and small plants having room to shelter and grow without me incurring the wrath of my wife by using virtually every window sill and spare surface area for my seedlings. Here's how it looked a few days ago.

So on to the seeds. I pricked out and potted on about 25 celeriac seedlings and finished off the remaining small pots in the tray with a couple of rows of summer red cabbage 'Kalibos'. In larger pots I have now sown, in no particular order: Atlantic Giant pumpkin, Cobnut squash, Potimarron squash, Jaspee de Vendee squash, Hearts of Gold melon, Burpless Tasty Green cucumber and One Ball and Kojac courgettes.

In root trainers I have sown 32 x Honey Bantam F1 sweetcorn seeds and in another tray of root trainers 8 x Painted Lady runnerbeans, 8 x Cobra climbing French beans, 8 x Purple Teepee dwarf French beans and 8 x Borlotto Lingua di Fuoco (Borlotti beans). Here's hoping for a full and speedy germination and no sharp cold snaps between now and the end of May.

The greenhouse and its mini plastic companion will soon be stuffed full. With space at a premium it will be handy to have the polytunnel available to relocate some of my larger plants, such as the tomatoes, which have now been hardening off for a week or so. The framework is up and I have the base ready to anchor it down. A dry and calm day tomorrow should see me finish off the outer polythene sheeting and weed mebrane inside and it will then be ready for action. I'm still undecided as to whether large containers/ growbags or direct into the ground is the way forward - need to be decisive and quickly!

On a final note, I'm trying sweet potatoes for the first time this year. They are a bit of a gamble in our short, cool summers but some plastic protection for warmth and an early start might give them chance to produce a fair crop. Unlike normal potatoes, which are planted direct into the ground, sweet potatoes are grown in this country by producing 'slips'. These are shoots that grow from a mature tuber once is is placed in water. They are then potted on at about 7-10cms in length with a view to establishing a good sized plant to go out once all risk of frost has passed. The slips can be bought from online seed suppliers but they cost a fortune, so I've been growing my own. Here's a picture of the sweet potato and its fledgling slips taken a week or so ago, the largest of which has now been potted on and resides on our kitched windowsill.

There are about 4 or 5 more to come, although at this time they're still a bit small. It will be interesting to see how things progress and whether I can manage a worthwhile crop later in the year.