Allotment Week: Potting on

So this week has been a bit warm. We've often reached over 40C in the greenhouse, which means that the seeds in there have really got off to a great start. Now a lot of them need potting on.

First off there are the old faithful Courgettes. We start them in the small pots (right). Those that actually sprout and make it to the cotyledon stage get potted on into bigger pots.

If you look closely above, you'll notice that some of them failed to germinate.

And then we have the sweetcorn. We're growing two varieties here labelled "sweetcorn" - and unknown organic, large cob variety, and "popcorn" - our existing variety that does superbly in the popcorn maker. Some of the sweetcorn have also failed to germinate, so planted another 9 to see if we can make up the numbers.

The Edamame (Soya Beans) are doing really well. The Toilet Roll trick seems to work well with them.

Then there are the Cape Gooseberries. These are the saved berries from last year. Also they are doing well and will need potting on soon. Probably at the weekend.

Outside, there are beginnings as well. The Apple tree has started to blossom.

And I've been delving into the murky depths of one of the compost bins.

I'm sieving out the compost. All the fine stuff is going into a clay and claggy bed whilst anything larger is getting thrown onto the new courgette mound.

Soon this will get covered with weed membrane and then we'll put a few holes in it and plant the courgettes through. Wonder what this year's tally will be. Probably less than last year as we won't have as many plants.