I brought back some bags of seed heads that had been left over the Winter to dry out. I have already put some Sweet Pea seeds to chit. They are a few Zorija Rose and some Pip Tremewan left over from last year. I brought home loads of Sweet Pea seeds but they will be mixed. I also brought home Lupin seeds but think that they have gone off. Time will tell. I will sow them and see what happens. The other seed heads were hard and round and I think they must be from the Alstromeria. I don’t usually let them go to seed but pull them when they have gone over. The seed heads, if left, will explode and shoot their seed everywhere which is why the flower bed is always full of new shoots.

The Rhubarb plant is growing well even though we still have straw around it to protect from frost. I have bought two new crowns of Champagne Red and they look ready to put into the ground soon.

We stayed for two and a half hours today and there are still loads of jobs to do.

At home I have chitted some Hurst Green Shaft Peas and sowed them in trays ready to get a good start. I also have Broad Bean Witkiem Manita coming along in toilet roll tubes.

I have sown the first four Tomato seeds, Black Cherry, bought fresh this year from T&M.

Cucumber Femspot is an F1 Hybrid cucumber, one of the best selling varieties in the UK. The plants are really strong growing, earlier cropper than most other cucumbers. You can enjoy the bitter free, ribbed fruits all summer long. Ideal greenhouse crop, but can be grown outside too in a sunny, sheltered spot in the garden or in your allotment plot. Femspot has proved to be one of the best all female varieties for outdoor production.

The cheap seeds, purchased from Netto (19p),Lidl (29p), Aldi (39p) and Alan Romans (50p) have always performed well for me but they only stock limited varieties so it looks as though if I want anything a bit different I may have to pay the price from the bigger seed suppliers. I hate waste though so I know I won’t be able to throw away the rest of the seeds in the packet after I have used what I need so my seed box will probably stay full.

In the same tray I have sown one row each of Cauliflower All The Year Round, Cabbage Primo ll and Cabbage Glory of Enkhuizen. All for Summer Harvest. update on germination – Cabbage Primo ll  (new seeds) 100%; ATYR & GOE (old seeds) nothing.

Tip – It is a good idea to provide some sort of covering over your germination containers to preserve moisture. You can place the container in a plastic bag or cover it with a sheet of plastic. Allow for some air to circulate but don’t let the mix dry out. Dry seeds will not germinate.

Climbing Bean Blue Lake has white seeds and pods are stringless when young. It is a vigorous climber producing round fleshy dark green pods. Sowings can be made indoors in April and outdoors from May to early July. Update 26th March, the seeds have been sown in modules.

Leek Real from Johnsons Healthy Harvest range should be high yielding with good white shanks and can be sown from January indoors. It is said to be disease resistant so we will give it a try this year.

Sweetcorn Sweet Bounty F1 is a new one to us which we shall sow outdoors in May.

Winter Squash Table Queen is a dark green acorn variety for harvesting August to October and is said to be the best squash for baking. Rolet produces smaller cricket ball sized fruits. The pack also contains Pumpkin Jack ‘o’ Lantern, Turks Turban, Sweet Dumpling and a F1 Butternut. I have found Squash great fun to grow so am looking forward to these.

This is a great and much sought after variety of Cucumber. Sometimes confused with the Crystal Apple Cucumber to which it is undoubtedly related. Sturdy, disease resistant vines produce an abundance of lemon shaped cucumbers that are of a yellow color. Easy to digest and never bitter, they can be eaten out of hand like an apple. info from roguelands.