Being late with everything, I am playing catchup with the season. This means I am frantically sowing alot of seed in one hit. Having a week of nights has help as I can sow a tray or two before work as well. Today I didn't have work tonight and have done a lot of sifting and sowing. I took a break and went up to the lotty and watered the very dry ground. My potatoes are showing their first leaves, and the four rows of broad beans 4 x doubole rows have had mixed result so far. One bed has 2x2 rows and they are up and doing well, the other bed not appeared as of yet. The shallots are away and some of the onions are as well. I also got a line of Beetroot sown, the dependable bolthardy, as well as picking some young tender rhubarb.
So what have I sow so far I hear you ask.
Well I save a few pods of my chillies from last year, 2 Rainbow, 2 Apache, 2 dwarf scotch bonnets, and 2 piri-piri pods. I mixed all the seed up and in 2 trays of warmed moist compost, sowed the lot. They did rather well outside last year and so this year I am going to grow in the ground as well as in large pots which I ll move in and out of the greenhouse.
I have also sown 2x32 rootrainers of Alderman peas, These are a high climbing variety and will plant out same time as the runnerbeans I have sown, again I have sown a 32 cell rootrainer of Lady Di. I also have sown 60 Kinghorn Wax Freanch bean seeds, allowing for so loses, it may seem alot of plants, but I do love green beans and you can always freeze them during the harvesting period for use in winter.
I then got my cauliflowers underway. Galleon is the variety I shall be trying this time. very hungry feeders are cauliflower and the ultimate challenge in brassica growing, apparently. I shall in the next day or two get summer and winter cabbages going as well, this years summer wil be an F1 variety call Kilaxy, from suttons, and the winter crop will be the great January King 3 and if enough space allows a few Tundra as well.
Great thing about Brassica seeds is they keep very well.
I also got my butternut squash and courgettes sown today. The butternut is the F1 variety Cobnut and the courgettes are F1 Defender, I have had good crops in the past with these so am returning to them.
I have also got my leeks sown as well, again Musselburgh are my seed leeks and shall get a few plugs of another type in June.
And finally salads, well starting with the humble but lovely lettuce, 4 types sown today, Little gem 20 seeds, with Lollo Rossa, again 20 seeds, I love this lettuce and it does look nice in a bed next to two green types, 20 of Web's Wonderful and finally 20 Sangria, a loose leaved lettuce with red tinges on the green leafs. Along with 20 Rocket seeds, I have gone for a good mix of salads and shall repeat the same sowings in 2 weeks and then 2 weeks after that.
I also will sow a few lines of Lisbon white and North Holland Blood Red spring onions, in my salad bed. Hope to have that done by the end of next week/weekend.

I had a bit of a bonus as well, I got offered a 3 yr old pile of horsemanure free, and neighbour as allowed me to use his tipper, so when we get the top of Plot 48 dug, which will be in the next 3-4 weeks it will be just right to add the manure and plant out a nice block of sweetcorn. I have a few packets of Kelvedon Glory and will sow the lot and have large block of this sweet delight. Maybe even place a squash or two in between and allow that to grow through the corn. I have seen this done before with no ill effects on either plant. I'll also get a cash crop of salads in between the rows of corn, lettuce, or even a line of beetroot which I 'll keep small for pickling.

As with sowing a lot, I have a large bucket of large pieces of semi-composted material. So what to do with this, well keep it and use it as a mulch, very good around the base of plants, like sweetcorn and beans, keeping the moisture in the soil. I just placed it in an old compost bag and stick it in the shed for use later. And on that note, I have heard that this year's weather will be similar to last years so mulching is in order. It is all to do with sea tempertures and etc.

I shall look forward to posting a few images of the seedlings over the next few weeks, as well as sowing alot more. And of course, digging and digging.