It's Nearly All About Onions

There isn't much left in the veg garden now - a few cabbages maybe, purple sprouting broc looking the worse for wear and a few leeks - but I guess that's the way it should be at this time of year.  Of course space is now needed for getting ready for the new gardening season and preparations are in hand.



Shallots, onion greens, garlic and leeks

 I decided to plant the shallots in last years potato sacks, all I have to do now if carefully transplant them into the ground now that they have rooted, this will give them a good start, and the birds will find it more difficult to pull them out.  The onion greens have been cut several times and have grown well, these will remain in this container for further use throughout the year.  The garlic withstood the bad weather well without protection and the shoots are about a foot high now.  If you remember in a previous post here I decided to experiment with my leeks by not digging them up, instead I decided to slice them off at ground level to see if they would re-grow.  As you can see from the picture, bottom right, the experiment has worked and new leeks have formed.  I have cut them off twice now and still they come back.  I will have to wait and see if they go to seed this year - but nevertheless I have so far had three lots of leeks from the one crop - so that can't be bad.


salad leaves

In the greenhouse there are just a few overwintered salad leaves left now, but they are beginning to look weak and spindly and some are going to seed.  I have just sown the first batch of new seeds for this year to keep the momentum going.

Potted up strawberry plants

In the greenhouse the strawberry plantlets that I potted up are showing signs of new growth, slowly, but it has been pretty cold in there - I prefer growing  strawberries in pots as it keeps the slugs off and you get earlier crops, outside I grow them as ground cover under the raspberries.



purple sprouting broccoli

 I only have half a dozen psb plants - two at home and the rest at the allotment.  The ones at the allotment are really looking in a sorry state after the snow etc. but this one pictured at home seems to have fared better, although there is no sign of any flowering shoots yet.

The next job for the month is to get the ground prepared for the onions, potatoes and peas - which, if the weatherman is right about the weather warming up towards the end of the week - I may be able to get done, with a bit of luck and a following wind.

Not long now before it could all be looking like this (click)