Blue bed

The blue bed is my root vegetable bed for this year. For me this will include carrots, parsnips, beetroot and radishes.

The parsnips are closest. I currently have 3 rows of succession sowing. I mistakenly planted on the advice of the back of the packet which I think was too early. The ones planted a month later have almost caught up. The last sowing germinated so much faster than the previous sowings.

The radishes are the next you see - two sowings - the first are growing really well - looking forward to them in the salads - must look up other recipes for them as they are such an easy to grow veg.

Next there is 2 lines of beetroot ( only one visible so far). Again I think I planted this a bit too early as April and May haven't been the best this year and are quiet cold. But still a row of healthy plants is nice to see.

At the top then I have 3 rows of carrots planted with the oldest against the top of the box. Nearly ready to start spacing them out. Good tip from the GIY website is to remove any thinned plants away from the box as you may attract the dreaded pest - the carrot root fly.

I had most of the top portion of soil sieved in this bed - not sure if I went deep enough - time will tell - I reckon I will have some forked carrots and parsnips. For next year I will have to do a lot more work prior to putting down the seeds. All of the above have been sown directly into soil.

I am doing an experiment with some extra carrot seeds. I am growing them in old toilet roll inserts filled with compost. This is supposed to help you get a better formed carrot as there are no rocks etc for them to hit while growing. Then when its planted out - the cardboard will disintegrate leaving lovely carrots - in theory anyhow - will wait and see.