Sowing Summer Leeks

With the ground completely frozen solid for much of this week, we have turned our attention to indoor sowing and pricking out. Here the team prepare the crates for the summer leeks. (the first batch of onion seed has already been sown and is in the propagation unit). The leeks and onions will be grown on and then transplanted out into the main garden. We have also pricked out the summer cauliflowers, the first batch of parsley and the antirrhinums. The water troughs may be four inches thick in ice, but there is still lots to do!

Tipping early peas

The first crop of peas that were sown in crates in early January are looking lovely! To encourage them to bush out and create sturdier plants, we pinch out the main growing stem two or three sets of leaves above soil level. This should provide us with plants of good quality to be planted out in early April.

Frost on early crops

We knew this would happen...! The intense cold of the last few days has inevitably taken its toll, and the beans sown in November are suffering greatly. They are a really hardy variety, bred to deal with these sorts of temperatures, but they were very much further on than they would normally have been. So, we can only wait and hope that they really are hardy enough to pull through.

Mushrooms!

At last the long awaited mushroom bales have arrived! The lower level of the two story building in the Melon Yard has traditionally been used as a mushroom house, providing the kitchens with oodles of freshly picked chestnut mushrooms. Originally, the heat would have been provided by fresh horse manure, but this is now a scarce commodity, so we use a modern heater. We also make sure that the humidity is kept high, by regularly misting. Once the mycelium have colonised the bales of barley straw sufficiently densely, we add a casing of decomposed peat (sounds delightful doesn't it!) to encourage the mushrooms to grow through in an even manner. Cant wait!

Red Flowered Broad Beans

No-one can quite recall where this particular variety arrived from, but it always draws comments from visitors and is very popular with the bees. This prompts our annual joke: a visitor will ask " What 's the name of those red flowered broad beans?", to which our reply is? "Erm, red flowered broad beans"! It is one of the varieties that we regularly save and it is always a joy when a visitor shows a real interest and is rewarded with a handful of the precious beans!

Early garlic

Although we have been sowing beans and seed trays all month, it does always seem that when the garlic is planted, the season has well and truly begun. Something about planting with cold fingers while the soil gradually warms during the day makes it feel like a new beginning - roll on Spring and the chance to shimmy out of our thermals!

January lettuces

If you've started on your New Year diets now, we've got just the thing for you! Although the frames are unheated, they have still managed a very respectable crop of winter lettuces and oriental greens. These will be heading up to the kitchens any day now!