CelticRambler wrote: ↑Sat Jan 07, 2023 4:59 pm
By way of advance planning, I've sown first batches of peppers, aubergines (new for this year), basil, celery and three varieties of lettuce. I've also taken a chance on a couple of varieties of tomatoes well ahead of time, just in case we skip over winter this year and go straight to an early summer. I'm not counting those particular chickens, but the forecast for the rest of the month is "remaining mild" and there are flower-buds on my autumn-sown peas. And daisies in the lawn.
No great success with those early sowings, alas.

I have some weedy looking lettuce and tomato seedlings, but none of the aubergines or peppers that I really wanted to see up and running. It's the recurrent problem I face at this time of year, every year: a conflict of interest, because these wintery months are the best time of the year for me to sell my body (and soul) in exchange for a summer of freedom. The seeds/seedlings were in a heated propagator, but I think it struggled to keep the temperature high enough in a house that was otherwise unheated during my absence.
But I'll sow a second batch of everything this week (maybe tomorrow, if I get through some other jobs quickly enough) and let them incubate in the camper while it's enjoying another ten days of downtime, and where the interior temps are hitting 20°C every day now (the house is still at 15°C

) In the meantime, I bought and planted a dozen asparagus crowns today, in a bed that was set aside for them almost two years ago. Also planted a first few lines of peas and mange-tout, a little bit early, but I read recently that we can get away with that here where I live if the seeds are sown twice as deep as recommended. I'll know in a month if it's worked ...
And, once again, blessed be the Lidlites: have topped up my stock with loads of their 29ct and 65ct packs of seed.