Sowing Diary

At last I can start my seed diary...I couldn't wait any longer !! It is a very tentative start ( I have too many people telling me it's too early) .

So far all I have planted are ( Marshalls )Broad Bean - Jubilee Hysor 3110. I planted 36 seeds, half the packet, in seed trays of John Innes soil based seed compost. The other half of the packet we will plant direct into the ground in a few weeks time and compare the two. I have placed the trays in the greenhouse as they shouldn't need any warmth to germinate.

I have also put 2 types of sweet pea seeds soaking in warm water and will sow them tomorrow. I am trying hanging basket sweet peas for the first time this year -( Thompson & Morgan ) Sugar 'n' Spice and then the more traditional climber - Antique Fantasy mixed . I will sow three seeds to each 3in pot and keep them in the dining room as they need a higher temperature to germinate. Again I will keep back half the packet of each type of seed in case any fail.

Other than that we have done the usual weekend sort out of livestock. We have put an extra shelter in with the orchard geese for nesting in and have decided to take a chance on leaving the geese out over night as we are totally confused as to who has paired up with who. This morning I found two soft shelled goose eggs laid out in the open which has also confused me ...so far from the orchard geese I have had 5 soft shelled eggs and 2 'normal' eggs. I had assumed the soft shelled were from last year's gosling and the other two from the older goose, now I don't know! If both are laying soft shelled eggs that's not good. They have oyster shell and grit readily available and are fed a good proprietary goose feed. They also both seem perfectly well. I did read that they need Vit.D to convert calcium in the body and cod liver oil was recommended.If they don't improve I will give it a go.

We have also raked over the freshly dug part of the garden which was pleasingly and surprisingly drier than we expected, now hopefully tomorrow we will be able to dig the remainder.

My husband is continuing to fit out the interior of the shed.

All in all not a bad day, quite easy going but a few things achieved.