Well, who knew that Soil Beds in a polytunnel would be a cause for excitement, but they are! Even though I’ve regularly sown seeds for the last 10 years, it’s still exciting to see the first hint of a shoot breaking through the soil.

In the past, I’ve used the polytunnel as a greenhouse, with propagation benches and grow bags for cucumbers and tomatoes.  The possibilities presented by 3 soil beds to grow undercover is almost limitless and in contrast to the cold, fierce wind outside yesterday, very attractive.

Here’s the current action:

First early potatoes: Casablanca.  All ten tubers have thrown up leaves and now I’m counting down from 90

The peas clearly like their indoor environment, they were sown eight days ago without pre-soaking.  Shhh, the mice haven’t found them yet…

The rocket and lettuce have also germinated after eight days and the beetroot are now developing true leaves after about three weeks.

I’ve started the courgettes in the greenhouse and predictably all six have germinated!  I’ll start the squash in the greenhouse this weekend.