Seed + seed raising mix + water

Today was a big day! Sown into individual cell compartments of seed raising trays are:

4 x tomato - Tigerella
4 x tomato - Green Zebra
4 x tomato - Mexican Midget
4 x tomato - Henry's Dwarf Bush
4 x tomato - Dali
4 x tomato - Watermouth
4 x rhubarb - Glaskins Perpetual
6 x eggplant - Long Purple
3 x capsicum - Burpee
3 x capsicum - Alma Paprika
3 x borage
3 x marsh mallow
3 x chives
3 x oregano
3 x basil
3 x coriander
and 2 x courgette (Black Beauty) direct into pots

Now to collate my information on each vegetable/herb so I know where I am!

Cover crop

Last Sunday I sowed phacelia in the two main patches where the veges grow come spring. No germination as yet, so it will be a while before we see this sight again.

I see from reviewing my earlier posts (loving blog labels, very easy to locate notes to self!) that I had thought about sowing phacelia in the shaded strip leading up the front door. I had borage in there over summer, which was lovely but a bit big, so I must remember to order some more phacelia seed to sow along there in spring.

More new seedlings

Last Sunday, 16th Nov, I sowed

6 x purple sprouting broccoli into an old eggcarton (4 germinated so far)
6 x borage into an old eggcarton (2 germinated so far)
2 x scallopini into individual pots

and into the seed tray:
8 x basil sweet genovese (5 germinated so far)
4 x eggplant long purple
4 x oregano
4 x parsley Italian flat leaf
4 x white sage (2 germinated so far)
4 x capsicum Jingle Belles (last year's capsicum is vigorously producing leaves now, so I may not need these new ones - however the more fun colours the better!)

The right tools

Having the right tools makes a huge difference! I bought a 5-litre sprayer, which is enough to spray the whole edible garden at once, with wand thingy so I can reach high and low with ease. This is much more efficient and effective - who knew?

Before I sprayed yesterday I also pruned the citrus trees, to get rid of the new low growth, the somewhat dead bits, and generally thin things out a bit.

Today I did some transplanting - borage and catnip into the ground (the catnip was sampled within about 15 minutes of it going in), and four sage, four catnip and an English Winter Thyme from the seedling trays into pots.

Dead seedlings

Several of the new seedlings are somewhat less than perky. In fact, I think it's time to call time of death......farewell broccoli, thyme and white sage! Keep hanging in there, borage! They were going along fine, then half way up their length they weakened, keeled over, and that was that. The ordinary sage, and one thyme seedling, are still looking okay and have their standard leaves coming through, so I'll transplant those into larger pots over the next day or two.

New seedlings

Of the sowings into trays I made on Monday, 3 broccoli, 2 thyme , 1 white sage and 1 borage have germinated so far.

Other sowings

The last two seeds that I sowed on Monday were both herbs, but ones that are primarily for other uses beyond culinary or medicinal.

Borage – borago officinalis from Kings Seeds

Germinates in soil temperatures of 18-25°, takes 7 to 14 days to germinate and are a direct-sown (30cm apart) annual - I've actually sown these into eggcartons so I can keep an eye on them initially then pop the whole thing in the ground once I'm sure there's some action. I'm growing this as it's a good bee plant - the blue flowers are also pretty, and edible! I want to put some of these around by the front path, so the bees come round that side of the house to check out the courgettes and citrus – might as well see if they grow okay in the shade, as well as the sun.

Catnip – nepeta cataria from Kings Seeds

Germinates in soil temperatures of 18-25°, takes 7 to 10 days to germinate, and grow perfectly well in pots (my plant from last summer is disturbingly healthy) but otherwise can be planted out 30cm apart as a 30cm high perennial. I've been pruning and drying as each stem got a bit big, but it's going to take a lot of foliage to make a cat toy! And Bugsy seems pretty fond of the leaves au natural, fresh off (or on) the plant. Highly recommended!