The sky is overcast and there is still some fog lingering. So what better place to spend the afternoon, then in the greenhouse sowing seeds. With the weather taking it’s time to warm up, everything is about 2 weeks behind. Hopefully over the next week or so, I can catch up with my sowing. But this afternoon I made a start and sowed lots of seeds.

Let me make one thing clear, there is no shame in buying plug plants from an online nursery (Victoriana  Nursery have a wonderful selection and many seedlings may have even been pricked out by my own fair hands), and then grow the plants on yourself. Please don’t feel like you have to grow everything from seed. If you only have a small space, buying plug plants makes perfect sense. Or if you don’t have time to sow and prick seedlings out, as it is time consuming, again plug plants are perfect.

Today I sowed the following seeds, some you may be interested in, and others you may not be, so here goes.

Peppers first, both chillies and sweet. Make sure you get the right ones, otherwise you’ll either be disappointed or very shocked. The Sweet Peppers I sowed were “California Wonder” and “Sweetonia Mix”. Now onto the Chilli Peppers, some are hotter than others, so I’ll start with the mildest first and work my way up. “Midas F1″ which are mild, “Trinidad Perfume” which are mild to medium, “Bulgarian Carrot” which are hot, and “Razzamatazz” which are also hot, then finally “Longhorn F1” which are very hot. I only sowed 4 seeds of each. The germination rate for peppers is usually very good, so I’m expecting either 3 or 4 of each to germinate.

If you’re really into your chillies then why not visit Challock Chilli fest in October!

Moving onto the other seeds now. I also sowed 2 varieties of cucumber, firstly some I bought from Spain a couple of years ago. What their variety is I don’t know, but they’re green and grow to about 7 inches long and need to be peeled as the skin is tough and bitter. The other variety is called “White Wonder“, so it’ll be interesting to see how they both grow. They can both be grown outside, but I think I’ll grow some in the greenhouse and some outside to compare.

Then I sowed some aubergines (or egg plant if you live in the US). I tend to have varied success with aubergines, as they are very sensitive to the outside temperature. If the summer is too cold they tend not to do well. So fingers, toes, legs and anything else crossed for a lovely long hot summer…..please…..go on you know you want to. I’ve sown 2 varieties, one from Spain that are smallish in size, and are white with purple lines down each fruit. The other variety is “Rosa Bianca” which look wonderful. I’ll keep you posted on their progress.

Then finally today I sowed some more brassica seeds. But this time some Calabrese “Matsuri F1”, some Brukale “Petit Posy” these are sometimes called flower sprout or kalettes. They are a cross between Brussels sprouts and kale. And finally some Cabbage “Primo (11)”.

So all in all a successful afternoon in the greenhouse. There are videos to follow, but I can’t upload them at home as our internet speed is slower than a snail. Mark has to upload them when he gets to work. Their internet speed is quicker than lightning, they’re just showing off.

Lots more seeds to sow this week, so I’ll keep you posted.