Spring is sprung!

Looking around the garden today the signs that the temperatures have been rising this week are obvious. I finally have a daffodil out, and the crocus are looking lovely, along with the snowdrops. The native primroses have been in flower for a while, but the coloured ones are coming into their own as well now, if only whatever is eating them would stop. The nut bushes are in flower. Being small I can see the tiny red flowers and the pollen on the catkins. Now we just need the wind to spread it about! (Not usually a problem around here.)

Having decided I could only fit 8 tomato plants in the greenhouse, I have 24 growing already, but the early Internet trial ones, planted on 27th Dec are decidedly leggy. I think the temperature in the bedroom has been too hot for the light levels. I have 2 Green tiger, 2 French black, 3 Sunburst and 5 unnamed; because I forgot to label them, but they might be Tigerella; from that early sowing. Then I planted some beefsteak ones, and some more Tigerella later.

My kitchen windowsill is home to my peppers, chillies and the later tomatoes, and they seem to be doing fine, although they will be a bit crowded once they are all potted on.

In the greenhouse the carrots and onions are looking fine, together with the spinach, turnips, and now lettuce and radish too. Today I put in some kohl rabi, purple and white ones so we can decide which we prefer.

I started hardening off my broad beans from the greenhouse, but forgot them some nights, so they were left out in hail and snow. As they survived that I thought they might as well go in the proper garden. I found 2 parsnips I'd missed so they were a welcome bonus. It is very wet still, but hopefully I will be able to get the shallots in this weekend as it's supposed to be pretty mild for the next few days.

I thought I'd try out some of last years parsnip seeds in the propagator to see if they would germinate, as they are notoriously short lived. It looks as if some are coming through, so I rooted through the recycling for loo roll middles. I'm going to fill these with potting compost and put the seeds in them, planting the whole thing directly into the garden when the plants have got a bit bigger. Mind you I think it was April I planted last year, and they grew well, so I'll still sow some later on too.

I also put some celeriac seeds in to see if they would grow, and I've got some up, so I'll need to ask the garden club who needs seedlings for later on, and how many. The ones I planted out earlier last year ran to seed, but the later ones grew fine, so I think it's worth keeping them snug in the greenhouse for longer this year. I will probably need more than I've got up so far.

The compost bin where I've been emptying the bokashi is ready to put on the garden, but I'm going to need help doing that at the moment. However hopefully I can persuade someone into it this weekend. It would be good to get it on now, before I want to plant out anything more.

I also noticed Vicky's white rose is beginning to sprout, so pruning that will be a priority this weekend during the mild weather.