Somewhat later than I originally planned (my intention was to do this mid-January, but given the weather I really don’t think it matters that much), today I have sown broad beans, beetroot, spinach and peas.
The broad beans (Aquadulce Claudia) were sown individually into 3″ pots, on their edges because I was once told that was the right way to do it to prevent them rotting, though I suspect Mother Nature is considerably less fussy about bean orientation during germination as a rule. The intention is that they will stay in the greenhouse to germinate as they’re relatively tolerant of cool temperatures.
The beetroot (Boltardy — a long time favourite) are in modules. I’ve sown four seeds to a cell in a twelve-cell tray, and they’ll eventually be planted out in the main plot as clumps of four plants (or whatever comes up), but for the time being they’ll go in the propagator.
The same goes for the spinach (Medania), though I only sowed three seeds per module for these.
The peas are just seed I had left over from last year and I’m planning to pick the shoots for salads early in the spring rather than waiting for them to produce pods, so they’ll go into the polytunnel when they’re ready. They’re a mixture of Hurst Green Shaft, Kelvedon Wonder and Sugar Ann, sown three to a cell (two trays of twelve cells). They’ll also go in the propagator.
