Bursting for a chit

Well I've resisted the urge but the time has finally come to set my parsnip seeds onto some damp tissue paper in a tupperware tray. I've got 3 drums ready and the other 4 will be completed at the weekend so I can safely start the seed off now knowing that by the time the root starts to pop through the seed casing everything will be in place to accept them. The tray is on a kitchen windowsill above a radiator so they should start chitting in a week or so.




















Elsewhere, in my conservatory (too cold for the greenhouse yet) these Evening Star celery seedlings have survived transplanting. I only need about 10 plants so the rest will be binned unless someone wants some freebies? I have a few ideas to try and get some better plants this season having won my first ever red card for celery last year. When the first proper leaves are showing I'll give these a regular misting with a bottle sprayer, a tip Mark Roberts passed onto me this week. As bog plants celery benefit from being kept damp above and below ground.

























And on the day my second sowing of Cedrico germinated (along with Harlequin small fruited type and Faworyt beefsteak type) my first sowing of Cedrico timed for Llangollen look like this. These will need to be potted on to a 3" pot in a week or two's time.




















Today I also potted up 40 Vento seedlings that Medwyn had kindly sent me after taking pity on my pathetic efforts to get some germinated from seed. They had been stuck at the post office for 5 days when i enquired there on the offchance. The lying twats reckoned they'd put a card through my door last Friday.....unless the dog ate it which is quite possible. They looked a little bedraggled after spending nearly a week in the dark so I cut the roots back to an inch or so long, snipped off any leaf ends that had wilted pretty much as you would when transplanting leeks into holes, and left them to soak overnight in a glass of water.

And another slice of luck came my way today when I was offered a Mantis Tiller free of charge. Life is good at the moment!