There is no education like adversity.

Well , finally the snow and freezing weather seems to have left us for a while. I'm under no illusion that it'll be back but we can keep our fingers crossed. I dropped into the allotment today to discover that the broad beans sadly didn't manage to withstand 12" of snow and temperature's down to -8. I'll probably pop another pack of seed in which should catch up weather permitting.
 On a positive note the fruit bushes that I moved seem to have survived the winter and have buds starting to develop. I'm thinking of constructing a fruit cage this year which makes protection and picking infinitely easier. I just adore gooseberries. Especially gooseberry fool.
 At home the chillies have been potted on into larger pots with a pinch of nutrimate.  The pot and blanch leeks have also been potted on and seem to going ok. I have them under the lights for about 12 hrs a day. If this is enough or not, time will tell. The Vento and globo onions are looking ok. I've potted a few on and left the rest to see if here's any noticeable difference. Next up I'll be planting tom seeds and thinking seriously about sorting the parsnip drums ready for planting in mid Feb.
 Hopefully we'll have some drier warmer weather now allowing some digging on the plot, and getting rid of some of the standing water in my garden.
  Anyway off to work now for another 14 hrs of hard collar and pure graft. Wish me luck.

Well not much is going on with regards the garden. I've sown a couple more trays of Vento and globo onions. Also I popped in a tray of chillies just in case the early sowing fails. The blanch and pot leeks and ticking along nicely under the lights and it'll soon be time time pot them on into bigger pots. I keep the lights on for 12 hrs a day, I'm not sure if this is enough or too much so we'll see.I have given all the plants a weak feed of maxi grow (seaweed feed).
I have filled the long carrot bed and sterilized the sand. I'll now leave it to settle before scoring and boring.  This week I'll try and sort the parsnip drums.
 I've started to sift, sieve and shred the compost ready to knock up my mixes. Haven't decided on my final mixes yet, it'll probably be based on last years which even with the dreadful weather we're the bedtime ones I've grown. ( esp parsnips)

 I popped into the plot this week just to cast my eye on any progress but as expected things are pretty stationary. The weather forecast is very poor with either snow and frost expected.