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I've got so many seeds I could cover a whole allotment site let alone a single plot.
Unfortunately, I have a small north facing garden and some pots instead.
So, going against all advice I would give others, I have already started sowing. I have given myself a slap on the back of the legs and a ticking off. I've done it before, mind, so I know the work I've let myself in for!
Last weekend, into modules indoors, I sowed:
Strawberry - Mignonette & Baron Solemacher
Cabbage - Advantage
Cauliflower - Mayflower
Spring onion - Red Beard
Shallots - Matador & Ambition
Peas - Douce Provence
Lettuce - Winter Gem
CCA mixed oriental leaves
I always sow very small amounts - six seeds, for example, to end up with 2 or 3 good plants (apart from CCA, obviously). I'll be sowing more of most of these vegetables each month, but different varieties.
The seed compost is from the Fertile Fibre range (coir based). It worked fine last year. It's very light, but the seeds seem to like it. I found that it dried out quickly in high temperatures in the greenhouse, however, so I need to keep my eye on things. It's a lot cleaner and easier to work with in modules than the J Arthur Bowers New Horizon compost which I use for most of my containers. I am (as far as I know) only using organic composts and fertilisers and use no peat.
The modules get put on (cool) windowsills and on the floor for now. On germination some will quickly go into the greenhouse (kept above 5 degrees) with some extra protection, and some will stay longer indoors depending on the weather. The peas, for example, are pretty hardy, and have been sown into rootrainers so I can move them into the greenhouse without delay.
Meanwhile, in the garden a few things are over-wintering:
Purple Sprouting Broccoli - Garnet and Claret (2 plants of each). First harvest from Garnet last week.
Kale - dwarf green curled (5 plants)
Leaf beet/ perpetual spinach (6 plants)
Lettuce - lattughino (3 plants left) in pots
Strawberry - marshmello (12 plants) in pots
In the greenhouse (all in pots):
Lettuce - Valdor, Winter Density, Lattughino
Land cress
Claytonia
Rocket
corn salad/ lambs lettuce
broad beans - Superaquadulce
Cold frame: Solent White garlic
Pest-wise, there is a bit of greenfly on the Claytonia, which I have been squashing, and slugs are munching at the Kale, but otherwise it's been pretty good. We have had a lot of frosts down here so far which I hope will keep pest numbers down.
