Inspection of plot (and seedlings)

Last weekend we spent a bit of time up the allotment weeding in preparation for rotavating:

We are hoping to get the main-crop onions and shallots in soon. Talking of onions, the autumn planted ones are not doing great:

We planted a mixed pack of onions (red baron, right), snowball (left) and Japanese onions (left) at the beginning of October. It's a bit hard to tell in the above pic but the Japanese onions are by far the strongest-looking plants. I think we have lost some of the others...

The garlic variety Germidour (sown at the same time as the onions) are doing well (100% success rate there) and to the left of the garlic in the below pic are a few slightly slug-damaged spring cabbage that are beginning to heart up:

These were kindly donated to me by my dad, the variety I think is "Offenham".

In other news we have lots of seedlings. Great success has been had with the chillis... after covering each pot with a plastic bag, every single seed germinated so now I have a total of 17 seedlings! The spring onions are doing okay, good germination rate there too:

Not a huge number I know, but will probably sow some more now I can get them to grow (hopefully I won't kill them when I transplant outside!). Mixed success with the pots of herbs:

The coriander, parsley and purple basil germinated quickly but the green basil and Delfino coriander have not germinated at all. I'll perhaps give them another week and if nothing appears I will chuck the seed and empty the pots.

Talking of poor germination less than a dozen leeks have germinated and most of those have just sat there peeping through the soil, not growing at all. I know from experience they can take a long time to germinate. 2 years ago I sowed a second batch of leeks after only a few germinated by the 4 week mark. Eight weeks later I ended up with hundreds of leeks!! I will try and hold off for a bit although I think I may sow some winter leeks anyway.

The tomatoes are up and running. Reasonable success there too with 3 or 4 plants per pot (4 seeds were planted per pot):

 Despite some of the seed being 5-7 years out of date, most have germinated. It would'nt surprise me if we get a 100% success rate!