Sweet peas flowering

The sweet peas sown in December have now started to flower. The plants are about a metre high now with a few deep purple blooms.

Great gardening weather at last

This last bank holiday in May gave us brilliant weather to get out into the garden. With Saturday and Sunday being very hot and sunny, Monday was cooler but still pleasant. It seems that for the last few weeks the wind has been constantly strong and cold but even that has calmed down now.

The cold easterly wind has claimed the life of my Acer which I had left in front of the shed during winter. Just as the new leaves were beginning to develop, so did the cold wind and killed it off. I'm sure its much too late to save it now but Ive put it in a sheltered spot (where it should have been during winter) in the faint hope it may spring back to life next year.

Dwarf beans potted into final big pots with a lettuce intercrop. Each plant has a cane but I'm not sure if that will be necessary as none of the literature suggests so.

Iv have sown to much lettuce too early and so I'm struggling to find space for them. some have gone between the onions while more remain in small pots.

Veggie update

Potatoes from the green house have been placed in larger pots or bags and earthed up. The potatoes grown outside are developing slower and have been earthed up less.

10 bean plants repotted. 8 very healthy.

Lettuce repotted to single small pots. Growing very well, may have too much to cope with.

Only a small number of tomatoes have germinated, and growth is slow. 5 seedlings at present.

Garlic doing brilliantly and onions doing well.

Carrots growing very slowly.

2 broccolli seedlings.

5 Beetroot seedlings.

Peat free gardening?

With a little bit of influence from BBC Gardeners World, this year I am trying to be a peat free gardener. I've used up the last of the Miracle Grow and bought Homebase Peat Free instead. Already I am experiencing difficulties as many seeds have not germinated. At first I thought it might be the fault of the peat free compost.

However, it seems that the problem is a combination of over watering, slugs in the greenhouse (not helped by me not putting slug pellets down) and the cold conditions. As to whether peat free is any good - we shall see as the year progresses.