Down by the riverside

Im still experiencing problems with my laptop so I'm having to do this post from my iPad which, incidentally, will not let me post any photos for some unknown reason.
Anyway it's been a fairly busy week this week and things are moving on fast! The pot leeks I had from a mate, who had them from Jimmy Dirden(a seasoned leek grower), are really progressing well in 5" pots with flags about 1 1/2" across. At the 5" pot stage I start to add loam (sieves molehills) to the mixture just to add a bit of body but also to help prevent the compost from getting too dry. I also had a second lot of cumbrian come in the post this week. They came from John Soulsby though and are now in 3 1/2" pots. These will hopefully cover any later shows I decide to enter. On the topic of leeks, the blanch are pulling nicely now and are a lovely dark green colour which is down to the lights they are under. It is important not to pull the leeks too much all in one go. I've been to see a couple of friends leeks this week sand they seem to have pulled them excessively and they looked a bit sick and spindly. still it's early days yet!
I've potted Peter glaze brooks onions on today into polystyrene vending cups which I find help to establish a strong root system due to the insulating properties of the cups. After I pot any onions on I don't water them for a couple days as it is so easy to overwater onions and I also find keeping them on the dry side for the first couple of days helps the roots to surge through the compost in search of water. David Metcalfes and vin Throups onions are all taking off now and these are in cell trays at the mo but I will be sorting out the strongest and potting those on into polystyrene cups aswell.
All my disbud xanth cuttings have been taken and I just have some sprays to take now but as thes need a later stop there is no rush to get the cuttings took. I've even took a few dahlias cuttings this week as the tubers were growing away early this year.
My first lot of peppers have been sown this week aswell and put in the heated propagator along with several trays of sowing compost to warm up for next weeks sowings.
the sweet peas have also been sown this week, using up the last seed from an exhibitor collection I bought from Malvern last year. the three varieties I'm growing this year are Gwendoline, Misty and Our Harry. All will be grown using the cordon system which is the only way to grow if your thinking of showing them.
I have a very important meeting coming up next Wednesday with several other committee members of our gardeners guild as we try to set up a children's section involving several local primary schools who have established gardening clubs.
Last night was Stourports presentation evening and it's was a shocking turnout and it just shows what an ailing society it is. There was about a dozen people there and five of them was my gang from Stourbridge some 10 miles away. there seems to be no local support or interest from the Stourports locals and it really is disappointing as they hold a really good two day show with a traditional village show feel in a large marquee down by the river. However I came away with 8 trophies so I was happy and weve had confirmation that the two day show will go ahead this year but their local council is now putting pressure on the society with increased rent for the riverside venue and imposing pathetic health and safety laws which are putting the show at risk.
Before I go into a rant I'm going to leave it there and wish you all well for the coming week. And I hope you'll be back next week for my next update. I'll try and keep it weekly seeing as a lot of you were probably smithyveg followers, who is now taking a break from blogging, you will undoubtedly be looking for somewhere else to have a read so I'll try and oblige.