Puzzled and frustrated!

You'll be pleased to know my water butts are full! We had quite a bit of rain yesterday, it had been a rather sunny day today, but we did just have a little thunder storm pass over. It came over right black and everything including the birds went quiet, it was quite eerie.

The girls have been cleaned out today, we had three eggs. When I gave them their scraps this morning Octavia was busy in the nesting box. The girls were not impressed with the cauliflower leaves they received after yesterdays concoction. Octavia was even less impressed as by the time she came out of the nesting box the others had almost devoured the leaves, so she went flying after them to chase them away from what was left. She is such a bossy boots!

Now you are probably wondering why I am puzzled and frustrated, well I'm puzzled because the seeds sown in the last 6 - 8 weeks are not really germinating yet the ones I sowed in January early February have done quite well. The January and February sowing were kept in the summerhouse and the later sowing's have been put in both of the greenhouses. The soil in the summerhouse is often dry yet the soil in the greenhouses remains wet. I have thrown out two trays of peas today as the peas had appeared to have rotted. I don't water them everyday but I do water them with the watering can where as the ones in the summerhouse are just sprayed with water from a spray bottle.

So my conclusion is that it surely must be a watering problem. The trays on the top two shelves of the rack seem to be alright but it is the lower shelves that are the problem. They are getting more water due to being watered and getting the water that comes off the top shelf also.

Everything that has not germinated has been composted and I have moved the trays about in the greenhouses. I have sown more peas, sweetcorn, brussel sprouts and cabbages this afternoon and even though it takes a lot longer I will water them with the spray bottle and hopefully I will see some improvement. So now I'm frustrated with myself as I am now behind in my sowing's and for not being more diligent with my watering.

On a brighter note all the fruit is growing really well the onions and garlic are starting to thicken. The broad beans now have lots of flowers on but I have still kept the fleece on them to protect them against any frost.

cabbages have doubled in size 

Sprouting broccoli 

To think this was just a brown twig a few weeks ago

another couple of weeks and we shall have some rhubarb

And finally.....I hope you enjoy reading my ramblings. I'm now going to do some reading ready for my first book review! Have a good evening/day everyone x