April 09

April 09 Mid Spring

What I should be doing in April.

Get digging. Plant out 2nd earlies potatoes - 13 weeks ready, Plant out broad beans and peas, plant out leeks when pencil thickness! Prepare hanging baskets, collect pea sticks, start feeding strawberries with tomato feed and cover with cloches for an early crop. Last week in the month pot on tomatoes in larger pots or gro bags and keep indoors still.

Sow

Courgettes, sweetcorn, leeks, parsnips, carrots, spinach, peas, celeriac, celery, squash, onions, marrow, runner beans, turnip, swede, rocket, lettuce, spring onions, beetroot, toms, parsley, chives, strawberry seed.

01/04/09 - Put febs leeks outside, 1st 5 parsnips out of propagator. Toms, cues, pep and chilli love the propagator! Put spring onions and beetroot in trays outside (9/3). Set 24 module sweetcorn F1 sundance, with lid. set 6 courgettes defender in 2 pots, in propagator, Planted (9/3) spring onion furio 1/2 in pot and 1/2 in sprigs in garden. 25 degrees GH. RAINED!

02/04/09 - Turnips showning (29/3). Set 27 (4pots) pepper californion wonder, in propagator. 10 degrees GH.

03/-4/09 - Put plastic bottles over beetroot in garden, found a slug in GH eating toms! All turnips up now, took wk 2 parsnips out of prop. 30 degrees GH.

05/04/09 - Lost 2 more red cherry toms. still no sweetcorn yet. Turnips bolted and leggy didnt get lid of in time.

07/04/09 - Runner beans scarlet emperor 35 on tissue paper, water and in container to chit. Set 8 wk6 parsnips in yog pots. 8 Cabbage popped up.

08/04/09 - Lottie - Set peas and beans all up to april, 16/1 and 21/2 beans at lottie, 7 beans x 6 rows, covered with netting (42) and 12/2 and 17/3 30 peas 9 peas x 3 1/2 rows. really windy but sunny.

09/04/09 - 2 courgettes popped up (1/3) and 1 squash (9/3) lost 2 more toms red cherry. set sweet peas. 10 out of 15 cabbage popped, some beans showing. Rained 20 degrees. 15 pots (30) peass onward lid on in bathroom and set pep spinach in 40 cell tray.

10/04/09 - 2 more cougettes and 1 more squash popped up and 1 sweetcorn up, 4 up pm. Rained. 1 squash up from 16/3. and 2 wk4 parsnips.

11/04/09 - 2 more sweetcorn and 1 more wk 4 parsnip. set 24 module runner beans scarlet emperor and 8 in pots. GH with lids. 11 degrees am rain and cloudy.

12/04/09 - Easter sunday- 12 sweetcorn up, 1 more 9/3 squash. Rain.

13/04/09 - Put 1/2 bottles over 16/1 lettuce in garden, snails about!, 13 sweetcorn, 2 peas in bathroom showing, 5 peas up in bathroom 9/4. Put 3 basket toms in basket in gh. Put sweet pea pot outside, made a spiral for them to climb up. Cloudy 9 degrees am late pm 20 degrees GH, checked lottie.

14/04/09 - 19 peas up in bathroom window, 1 runner bean, repotted 2 squash 9/3 into 13cm pots. 15 degrees GH and cloudy, Put 2 more toms in basket.

15/04/09 - 5 runner beans up, Set 40 cell tray celery celebrity. 24 peas up 9/4. set 60 onion sets at lottie. Set 2 6 pack 24 beetroot boltardy. set 2 pots 50+ spring onion furio (reds), set 1 6 pack parsley, 4 pots chives, and 2 pots mixed radishfor lottie beds. dug seed bed and marked paths and 2 small beds.

16/04/09 - 19 runner beans up and spinich. bought seeds from netto 19p each! sweetcorn, cougette, runner beans, and beans and flowers.

17/04/09 - All wk 4 parsnips up, 19 runner beans and 1 from pots in gh now. Put celeriac, parsnips out to start to harden off. repotted 2 more squashes bigger pots, all 3 up from 16/3, and 2 out of 4 9/3 up. set rest of sweetcorn 10 in to replace what didnt come up. and 1/2 a seed tray sweetcorn F1 jubilee 40 with lid on gh. GH pm 27 degrees very windy.

18/04/09 - Windy but sunny put celeriac and celery out to harden off couple of hours, to windy.

19/04/09 - Windy and cloudy feels like snow! sweet peas up 9/4 outside, all runner beans up, took cloches of lettuce in garden 4 really big. To cold and windy to go to lottie.Warming up a bit Pm 22 degrees, then 31 degrees late pm. repotted 35 turnips not looking good though, bolted and wind go them. sow direct next time or in loo rolls. No frost since mid march. Home beans flowers are black and have brown spots on leaves!

20/04/09 - Lottie Set 9/3 beetroot and little gem lettuce in small bed 42 of each. Put pea sticks in the peas with 3 cloches, and took net of. 3 rows beans cloche and net and 3 with none. GH chitting 31 runner beans scarlet emperor, set 4 cougettes in 1 pot. Like summer today 25 degrees gh.

21/04/09 - Like summer again, 35 degrees pm, took bottles of beetroot in garden, radish up in both pots 14/4. left runner beans and basket toms outside last nite gives frost tonite! oppps. Set 2 square pots red skin pepper and 2 pots strawberry temptation 50 +. Chives up in bahroom window, 1 garlic elephant sprouted! from 16/1.

22/04/09 - Lottie Dug bed 2 small, put septembers leeks in and 2 rowns in seed bed, set sweetpeas in sink, very dry watered everything apart from beans. Beetroot showing in 6 packs 15/4 and 17/4 sweetcorn up, sunny all week 35 degrees gh pm, cabbage and turnips died.

23/04/09 - 4 peppers 2/4 popped. set 4 squash in 1 pot and 24 module sweetcorn Incredible. took bubblewrap down, well moved it back, runner beans popped 20/4, and 18 sweetcorn 17/4 up. Put supports up for 4 beans to have at home, 28 sweetcorn up pm 25 degrees windy but hot.

24/04/09 - Lottie set 9/4 peas early onward (25) next t0 beans and planted 1/2 seed tray of carrots 24/1, 8 rows - into new seedbed. very windy. Gh - 1 more 1/4 corgette p and 2 wk 6 parsnips up now, and 31 sweetcorn up. 25 degrees pm. 20/4 runner beans chitted (29) and potted up into a 24 cell tray and 5 pots.

25/04/09 - Took parsley and chives from bthrm window to gh, parsley just showing and 3 pots chives, sweet peas doing well in pot dont soak next time! planted 4 runnerbeans (11/4) along fence in garden, tied sweet pea cane to fence, tied up 2 beans as growing in the grass! Set 9 toms in pot money maker 2 pots 18. cloudy 17 degrees.

26/04/09 - Lottie, Garlic starting to go yellow. Watered at lottie, carrots wilted, water butt empty its really dry, onions sprouting. Fed strawberrys with tom feed - dont feed again for 14 days, 1/4 cap to 2 litres water. 2 big containers. Sown 200 swede best of all 40 cell in soil and lid gh, gave rain yesterday -- nope!

27/04/09 - Few more sweetcorn poppe 17/4 , and 2/4 8 peppers popped, cold and windy, spots of rain.

29/04/09 - Put all seedlings outside to harden off a bit, gives frost tonite! A couple of 23/4 sweetcorn popped and a couple of runner beans, 1 swede showing 26/4. 20 degrees am and 35 degrees pm.

30/04/09 - Couple more wk 6 parsnips up and swede showing took lid of.