Work to date
04-08 Jan. Washed up seaweed collected from pier and spread on ground where I hope to grow a small veg garden
28th Jan  Onion Seed - Bedfordshire champ trayed.

29 - 30 Jan  Brussel Sprout F1, Kohl Rabi -Olivia F1 Leek Muselburg & Lyon trayed

Feb 5 light frost

Feb 6 Brussel Sprouts germinate well
Feb 7 SCORE - got some old Kerr Pink from local grocery store, not certified seed, but if half come up have saved a tenner. Hope it came from a clean crop - ie no desiese
Also, plastic bread tray for handling pots. Mate who works in store told me it took 5 minutes to find and 1 minute to steal.  Saves on buying stuff from garden centre, which is a long drive.
Make paper mache pots for seedling transplant  Bean seeds to pots in sill. 

Garlic cloves from shop as well into pots. Came all the way from China!!!  Why do we buy garlc from China, isn't France in the EU??

Its like the time I saw onions for sale in Holland that came from New Zealand - but at least you can explain that by seasonal variation.
Probably wont take, they treat these things so they wont seed right I've heard. Worth a try I guess, if only to save on food miles, and seed garlic from UK is expensive.

Paper mache pots for seedlings, feckin disaster
Feb 9 Some onion and leek seedlings start coming through
Feb 10 Found a site about cheap seedling pots

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cangard/msg032215246229.html

Really handy. Used a bunch of old magazines up Used old style wallpaper paste (out of date barley flour & water) instead of masking tape.

Brussel sprout & kohl rabi seedlings hitting clingfilm so needed to move them.
Loads of them, and the kohl rabi - so even if the paste dont work at least the pot wont break as they are fairly jam packed in the bread tray. Way too many seeds for own needs so any spare will go to neighbours and local primary school as they have a small garden project for the kids
Feb 11  Heavy frost overnight, checked with seed company - seeds dispatched, look forward to getting them.

Seed companies:
Ireland

http://www.irishseedsavers.ie/

http://www.brownenvelopeseeds.com/

Local organic spud agents

http://www.fruithillfarm.com/t-agents.aspx

(Joe Hynes in Galway does Mayo - sound bloke, son surfing in Oz)
Britain - great range and fast service.

http://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/
Feb 17 Onion seed coming up well. Think I may have killed off a bunch of leeks while transplanting.

Put down cabbage seed in paper pots. Got more meat containers from a local shop. Makes it easier to sort etc.
Early beans to pots. Trimmed trees and hedge around outside plot to increase sunlight.

Chainsaw rental in Ireland a nightmare.
Feb 20 Trayed up Ailsa Craig onions, heritage variety from Scotland. Looking at how long it takes for onion seed, and the availability of onion set its not realy worth the hassle except for the heritage varieties.

Picked up horseradish root from garden centre.
Feb 27 Rodeo cabbage seedlings coming up OK - but no sign of the Blomensdaale, a heritge Dutch variety, which I really wanted to grow well. Getting seedtapes ready for parsnip, carrot, turnip
Feb 28  Some garlic cloves coming up
Mar 04 First outdoor planting - carrots and parsnips on home made kitchen paper seed tape.

Indoor beanseeds coming up. Trayed up celeriac in small module tray - old ice cube makers

Still no sign of dutch cabbage!!
Mar 05  Well, there would have to be a hard local frost first night after planting.

Mar 11 - Frost still most mornings. Some dutch cabbage finally sprouting, but will start a new batch

Mar 12 - First spuds down, Setanta, Orla and Kerr pink

Mar 17 - Bit stormy last night but first carrot has sprouted

Mar 22 - Well, going to be a mad dash, looks like I've got to go back to work so everything goes into the ground today to look after themselves for 2 months.

Mar 31 - Well, snow - looks Like I will have to replant all the turnips, carrots and parsnips as I dont think they will germinate at this stage. All onions grown in trays from seed transplanted outside

Apr 21- weeds, weeds, weeds - replanted a lot of seed in the root beds.

Spuds beginning to come up - weather seems suitable to start salad greens now

Apr 27 weeds, weeds, weeds

===

* Trayed - in shallow container with compost to germinate.

Container covered with clingfilm and placed in sunny window sill.

Also re-used some old glass from a removed window

The reason I used the clingfilm to cover the trays is to stop them drying out, rather than mist spray every day let the sun and gravity do the job.
Idea came from botonist Joseph Banks on Cooks Endeavour in 1771 had small cabinets made, with glass, like mini glass houses for samples.

That kept the moisture in the soil, and kept them warmer