Close Up Progress plus Planting

Waking up this morning to bright sunshine (for what seems like the first time this year) I was filled with the feeling of twitchy fingers wanting to get out and do something in the garden.

I also noticed last night that the coriander is showing some corrugation on it's second growth which is great progress.

So today, I have some close up pictures of the progress my plants are making, now the snow has gone and spring feels like it is in the air *smiley face*

Coriander starting to show second growth, with the tell-tale corrugated leaves proving that yes, those tiny little specs which I planted all those weeks ago actually WERE coriander seeds. Soon I will be splitting these seedlings up into separate pots and will be able to give a few away to people (which I always like doing; sharing is caring as they say).

The mint has put up several new shoots, and this it the tip of one of them. The main growth that was there when I bought it is doing it's creeping-thing, leaning over and spreading across the windowsill. As soon as I am confident there will be no more frosts then this will be good to go outside.

A tiny lettuce seedling; however, the second growth is finally visible and from experience once you see that, it is about to go nuts and grow like the clappers. I'm so impressed this has survived all that snow, but I won't be planting that early again because there is just no point. I'm going to be checking this very regularly though as I reckon it will grow fast from now on.

The onions. There are a few clumps like this coming up, both from areas which were under the cloche and those which were not covered up. I hope that in the next month or two these are to a state where I can pull them as young onions and add them to a salad, maybe with the first of the lettuce leaves.

The broccoli, not really any different to what it was the week or two before the snow fell. Something looks like it is nibbling at the leaves too; it looks toothed rather than slug-shaped but I have no idea what could be doing that? Any ideas?

This is something I really cannot believe; all through the winter this plant has been producing beautiful looking oranges like these. And, as you've seen in previous blog posts, it has been putting height on in leaps and bounds over the last four weeks. I am really excited about how big it will get over the summer. Watch this space.

I also woke up with an urge to plant and so I have opened and set out the Basil and Oregano pot which was part of my Christmas present.

The unopened packet, with a very attractive wooden planter pair.

The package containing the Basil. Two bags of "planting material" (according to the packet) and a TINY packet of minuscule seeds.

The package containing the Oregano. A similar amount of "planting material" and a tiny packet containing slightly larger, but still little, seeds.

Planting material in the containers, "generously watered" and the seeds buried about 6mm under the surface. These are now sitting on our bedroom window, as this gets a lot of sun, and as per usual I am now waiting with great excitement to see the first green shoots. You can guarantee that I will be looking every single morning and you will be informed the minute something shows.

Finally this week I ordered the flower seeds to encourage pollinators to come to my garden. They are supposed to arrive this week so next weekend I could be quite busy (and my girlfriend quite annoyed as the house turns into a garden nursery).

I hope you are all out there starting to get busy in your gardens and getting ready for an exciting year or growing and producing food so you don't have to buy low quality low taste low fun supermarket junk.

Enjoy :)