16. April 2013 · Comments Off on Signs of spring · Categories: Gardening · Tags: , ,

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The surest sign of spring in our house is the lack of bench space, as seedlings take over the kitchen. We had a damp, dull winter, with not much snow but lots of rain.

It’s now been dry for a while, the soil has defrosted and the sun is coming out. Down in the vege patch I measured the soil temperature at 9 degrees C. So I have started sowing seeds down there and hopefully we’ll be hardening off all these seedlings soon!

We get these plastic containers from our local sweet shop. They always have plenty to give away, and they’re quite perfect for the job. Plus the kids can see the roots of their plant babies (they got seed packets from the Easter bunny).

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After teasing my mother-in-law about how many different seeds she had ordered, I went ahead and ordered 9 packets for myself.  I still have a huge stash of seeds from previous years, but I had no broad beans or thyme, and I wanted to try a few different pumpkins this year since we have lots of good flat sunny growing space for them.

In the pile above are:

  • Sunflowers “Giant Yellow”
  • Poppies, “Siberian”
  • Marigolds (Tagetes) “Tashkent”
  • Creeping Thyme Thymus serpyllum
  • Yellow Crookneck Squash
  • Broad beans “Witkiem” and “Super Aquadulce”
  • Pumpkins “Buttercup” and “Red Kabocha”

I have also bought some clover seeds, as I want to experiment with growing clover as a ground cover among the pumpkins.  I can’t wait for spring!