[garynortheast]

Originally Posted by Sir Trev

You're a bit further ahead than me Gary. I normally get tomato plants from a nursery nearby but the last couple of times it has been obvious that they don't take much care with the labels as two plants allegedly the same give very different fruits... Have gone for a packet of seeds this year and will probably set those off in another week or so. If the soil has drained enough after the deluge of the last three weeks I'll dig the raised beds over tomorrow ready for the first of the planting/sowing - the parsnip seeds and early spuds will go in sometime in March depending on the weather.

We’ve still got a hell of a lot of work to do on the beds yet Trev. I’m just about to order all the larch boards we need to repair existing beds and build a large new one. Except for the new bed, we’ll be doing very little digging. We’re going to weed what needs weeding and the cover the beds in we’ll rotted horse muck and bark clippings. We’re going to plant our veg through that once the soil has warmed up enough in a few weeks, which will give the worms time to incorporate the mulch into the beds.


This is the first time I’ve grown tomatoes from seed but a friend grew all hers from seed last year and they were very successful.

Originally Posted by Adam Ef

I've never had much luck with leeks and cucumbers.

There’s no such thing as too much well rotted muck when it comes to cucumbers, and leeks are happiest in a good firm soil with plenty of muck mixed in.

Originally Posted by Adam Ef

Struggled with peppers too until last year then managed to grow some small orange peppers. Chopped them up and put them in a salad only to find out I'd grown small orange habanero chillies. That was a fun evening!

Now that made me laugh out loud Adam, sorry!

Originally Posted by Adam Ef

Hoping to get some sugar snap peas and courgettes planted in pots inside this week. Possibly some runner beans too as I really like the flowers on them.

We’ll pot on all the stuff in the plug trays once they’ve got going properly, then they’ll go out into the beds as soon as the last frosts have finished. The stuff in the toilet roll tubes will go straight in the ground, again once it’s warm enough.