Twenty-four hours of rain.

I sorted out my seeds: packing away beans, cucurbits and tomatoes for a few months and replacing them with lots of sturdy winter greens. Even in the greenhouse the change in season is apparent. I cut away a lot of the lower leaves on the tomato, pepper and aubergine plants to help the damp air circulate a bit. The greenhouse border remains almost completely healthy, despite closer planting and increasingly tired soil (I resolved to replace this at half term).

With the rain beating down on the glass, I sowed the following lettuces into a large grid of small cells;

Lattughino, Maravilla de Verano Canasta, Romana Mortarella Verde d'Inverno, Rouge Grenobloise, Winter Density, Rouge d'Hiver, Lattughino, Arctic King.

Six of the following into modules;

Chicory Variegata di Castel Franco, Chicory Variegata di Chioggia 'Fladige', Chicory Bianca di Chioggia, Endive Riccia, Endive Ascolana, Chard Lucullus.

All of the above will be planted in the raised beds in the garden, where they can be 'cloched' if necessary. Then, for the winter greenhouse border, a few salad onions (White Lisbon & Winter Bunching) and the following mustards:

Amsoi, Bau-Sin, Big Stem, Peacock Tail, San-Ho Giant.

I also started off some Lovage and Chinese Angelica (Dong Quai). (The roots of the latter are, apparently, a source of vitamin B12 - although I suspect this may be more to do with their cultivation). Laurie joined me at this point and, very efficiently, filled up the 3" pots with compost for the rest of the lavender and the basil.