COLUMN: Chesterfield dad gets allotment ready for onslaught that is seed sowing!

All winter there has been primaveral longings to get going in the garden, but in reality the weather just hasn't let that happen, until now. Does anyone else's window sills look like a mini allotment? I am having to juggle everything around while at the same time trying not to annoy the other half!

So back in January I started sowing my tomatoes and chilli's, but there's still time if you haven't, just! If you are only looking at growing a few plants, it's sometimes just as easy to buy a couple at the garden centre to alleviate this.

A few other things we have been sowing are cabbage, cauliflower,sprouts, broccoli, cucumber, aubergines, turnip, lettuce, spring onions, artichoke, leeks, radish, onions and garlic. Now that the soil is starting to warm up, seeds will start to germinate faster. Our allotment is predominantly raised beds so the soil warms up quicker, but a good tip is to cover your beds with fleece or whatever you have and let them warm up for a few weeks before planting or sowing.

This year we are growing about 20 varieties of tomato. Now I know this might sound excessive to some people, but we go through them like you wouldn't believe. I'm wanting to grow some of the more rare varieties that you don't see in the supermarkets as we like the different sizes and colours. My top tip for allotment sowing is, sow what you like to eat. When we first got our plot, we made the mistake of trying to grow everything. We soon learnt that what was the point in growing things we didn't love to eat! I would rather grow less things well, than too much with not as good quality.

As we move into April, this gives us an even bigger window of sowing opportunity. We will be sowing all of our beans into pots that we always start in the greenhouse or polytunnel.

Moving away from the allotment, we have also been busy in our garden. Just yesterday I was out prepping the tree ferns for their new fronds that have just started to emerge. I usually forget about sowing flowers for the garden as my time is always taken up sowing vegetables, but I have also been busy sowing sunflowers, dahlias and cosmos for a beautiful floral display come the summer months. They are so easy to grow and it could save you a small fortune on trips to the garden centre, If you're anything like me that is!

Another top tip for sowing sunflowers is start saving your toilet roll tubes and sow little and often. I like to use these as it gives the roots a good system to grow in and they can be planted out once tall enough to avoid the dreaded slugs. Sowing every few weeks should give you gorgeous displays for months and months, and I promise you, you will thank me for it!

Follow our journey on Instagram to see how we're getting on!

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