January sowings/ siembra en enero

After months, the wait is over: the new sowing season starts today! I took out my planting tools and seeds and I've started sowing for 2011 - hurrah!

I am using the electric propagator for the first time:

First use of my heated propagator

The idea is that it will keep the compost warm, so seeds germinate much quicker than outside. Hopefully in March I will have little plants in pots ready to be planted outside - that is at least the plan. January is still too early for most things, but after reading books, blogs and seed packets I have decided to start with:

- peas
- tomatoes
- spinach

I'm using plastic cups as seed pots. I tried this system last year and it worked a treat, so I'm doing it again. They are cheap, the right size (small) for seedlings, and you can write the name with permanent marker on the pot to know what's growing - saves me bothering with labels! And if you are careful and they don't split, of course you can reuse them. I'm quite chuffed I had this idea, as I'm sure there's lots of people out there doing the same but I haven't seen it anywhere else, so it's my own "baby".

It's also a good time to sow broad beans, but since we didn't really eat them last year they're not on my priority list, and as you can see in the picture the space is full at the moment. I may sow some outside, just in case, next weekend that it doesn't rain. I have seeds of an early variety ('Aquadulce'), and they recommend sowing outdoors in February, so if I find them space outside I may as well try!

Of course one of the excitements of starting sowing again is taking out all the seeds packets and planning what you want to grow, where it's going to go outside, and when to start! I can tell already that finding space for all my seeds is going to be challenging... But this article on one of the blogs I read made me feel better today, I'm not the only seedaholic out there!:  http://ukveggardeners.com/forum/topics/seed-time

Hoy por fin, tras meses de espera, he vuelto a la siembra! Saque las semillas, el compost, las macetas, y la temporada de siembra de 2011 se da por comenzada. Lo primero que tuve que hacer fue sacar las semillas y decidir que es lo primero que siembro (tengo espacio limitado y hay que priorizar!). Me lo pase genial  con las semillas, es emocionante hacer nuevos planes de siembra y plantacion. Tras mucho leer los sobres de las semillas, blogs y libros, he decidido para esta primera tanda sembrar guisantes, tomates y espinacas.


Lo que veis en la foto es mi semillero electrico, recien estrenado! Ahora es buen tiempo de sembrar habas, pero a mi ya no me cabian mas semillas. El ano pasado tuvimos una cosecha (minima) de habas verdes y a penas las comimos, asi que no estan en la lista prioritaria. A lo mejor siembro unas pocas directamente fuera un fin de semana pronto que no llueva, porque tengo una variedad temprana ('Aquadulce') que es para sembrar directamente en el suelo a partir de febrero. Por probar no pierdo nada.


El sistema de sembrar en vasitos de plastico se me ocurrio el ano pasado. No lo he visto en ningun otro sitio (pagina web o programa de la tele), aunque seguro que no soy la unica que tuvo la genial idea, asi que estoy muy orgullosa del invento. Las ventajas que tiene es que: son baratos, si no se rompen los puedes reutilizar, son el tamano ideal (pequeno) para semillas, y puedo escribir el nombre de la semilla directamente en el plastico sin tener que usar etiquetas o palitos.