Sowing under glass

We are sowing under glass to get ahead this growing season.   

Last week M and I visited the small greenhouse where my husband had nailed together an insulated wooden box.  We sowed chilli pepper (saved) seed in this.  The theory is that thus doubly insulated, the chilli peppers will have a head start.  We also sowed summer cabbage in seed trays and early peas in a length of old drainpipe.

My husband then got busy at home with tomatoes (commercial - a packet from last year), winter squash (saved seed) and pumpkin (culinary - saved from last November) under sheets of glass to retain warmth.

M and I went down to the big greenhouse this week and sowed dwarf french beans in pots.  Once more my husband came up with a handy construction - a sheet of corrugated plastic nailed to two laths of wood, which is now covering the beans., once again keeping in warmth.

Last time we looked, there was no movement with the chillis the peas, and the cabbage but in the favourable conditions of what M calls our 'luxury greenhouse', otherwise known as our lounge-diner, the squash, pumpkins and tomatoes are beginning to appear.  Here we are at the end of February and I am surprised at their speedy germination.  Our climate (outside the controlled conditions of our flat) is unpredictable as ever.  The trick will be to keep these young plants growing at the right speed, to know when to transfer them to the big greenhouse, at what stage to pot on and when to take the big step of planting out when the risk of frost is over.