Great British winter weather means a number of my crops are behind this year

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All sorts of trials and tribulations await around every corner for us gardeners as I noted the other morning taking a stroll down the garden to the Greenhouse. The Leeks I sowed several weeks ago have been living quite happily in a large log store that I use at the end of the garden for sheltering plants and storing pots. Now I don't know if it was the very windy weather we have been experiencing or, most likely, and inquisitive Fox or local Cat, but the trough was found on the floor in front of the table on which it was sat with most of the contents deposited on the ground. Disaster! I have been able to save a few of the seedlings which I have potted on and hopefully I will have at least a few Leeks, if not as many as planned, to plant out in a few weeks time..................

It really has been a crazy winter with some quite extreme conditions changing from one week to the next. I have taken a lookback though some old notes from my time owning an allotment and I had a number of seedlings in the ground by now in years gone by; I daren't plan out anything yet this year as you simply can't predict if it will be snow, frost, wind or rain over the coming days. Frost and snow do appear unlikely I am glad to say looking at the long-range forecast and I will move the Agapanthus and French Lavender out from the Greenhouse this weekend so the Runner Bean and Barbara Butternut Squash seedlings, currently in the conservatory, can move down there. Temperatures are looking pretty fair over the coming days barring perhaps Sunday when a cold night is forecast so I will have to keep an eye on that. 

Some of the Pea Bingo have been sown and are coming along nicely on the front windowsill as I type, with the windowsill of the back bedroom currently home for numerous Tomato seedlings. 

I mentioned in February that I will be growing Potatoes in pots this year and they will be sown this week having been chitting in the conservatory for a few weeks. I have Charlotte, a tasty salad potato, Pentland Javelin, an early variety that will hopefully produce loads of small, tasty spuds, best simply boiled and Desiree which I am told is decent for chips and roasties. I purchased one of these kits online that comes complete with three thirty litre pots, which certainly look pretty solid, and a bag of Organic Potato Fertiliser. Hopefully the rain will hold off long enough over the weekend for me to get a few or these jobs done as well as give the lawn it's first trim of the year. 

Cheers 🍺

Location: London Borough of Havering, UK

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