Back to all things gardening!

As we were to be away for a week at the end of March we held off most of our seed sowing and planting. We didn't want tiny seedlings being left to their own devices whist we were away and generally speaking we've found leaving sowing 'til the beginning of April to be no problem.

There were one or two things though that we really wanted to get off to an earlier start. Some seeds were sown fairly early and has reached the size where we hoped they would cope without us.

So I thought I'd first give you an update of the state of play in our garden greenhouse and include the Indoor Growing Garden.

So greenhouse first:

The first lot of broad beans - Witkiem Manita which were sown at the very end of February are at the stage when they will need to be planted out on the plot.

We seem to have rather a lot of sweet peas!

I did decide that I wanted lots this year but maybe we have overdone things slightly. The problem was that I ordered the varieties that I particularly wanted and then I found some that I didn't use last year - a free packet from one of our magazines. And then this year another two packets came along as freebies from magazines. Well you just have to sow them don't you?

Leeks as last year have been sown in large pots and these to have germinated and survived our absence.

You may remember (or more likely don't) that at the end of last year I took lots of lavender cuttings - well these must have taken as now they seem to be growing away so I'll have to tip them out and see how much root they have made and then pot them up. These are destined for the plot to finished the mini hedge around the fruit bush beds. The bees will love even more lavender to browse.

Also ready to be planted out are the potatoes which have survived the frosts (so far anyway) and are sprouting well.

So let's go inside in the warmth of our spare room upstairs. Quick keep up!

Some seeds had already been planted and had germinated under our growing light. Celery, celeriac and antirrhinums really need to be pricked out but we didn't want to do this before we went on holiday so it is one of the first jobs on the to do list.

As the Indoor Growing Garden's water reservoir holds enough to keep seed trays watered for a week we decided to sow tomato, pepper and aubergine seeds just before we went away - we had spare seeds just in case of a disaster but when we returned from holiday the tomatoes and peppers had been happy and had germinated well.

The aubergines had just germinated before we left but oh dear whatever had happened to them. To find out visit Martyn's post here

So now it's full steam ahead as far as sowing is concerned and time to devote a little more time to planting both on the plot and in the garden.

We're keeping a list of what we sowed and when in March here  April's sowing will be recorded here Martyn is also keeping a record of germination times here

Maybe I should also mention that the store onions have started to sprout!

So in spite of lots and lots of them rotting, they seem to have seen us through. Our heat treated onions sets had arrived when we came back from holiday so what with those already planted we look as though we'll have lots of onions next year - then again if they rot as quickly in storage as this year's have maybe we won't have TOO many!