And what a lovely day it has been. Who says bank holidays are always rainy and horrible.
The sun shining in through my bedroom window this morning encouraged me to get loads done today and, as such, this blog post is super long so I'll crack on with it without any more fuss.
First task for the day was to plant out the shop bought Coriander and Chives, and the Foxgloves.
It's the first outing of the year for the All Steel Spade, here after the planting hole (slightly too deep as it happened) for the Chives has been dug.
The Chives plant (not looking very healthy but worth planting out) watered in to its new home.
I dug a shallow trench for the Foxglove and put potting compost into the bottom of it.
The Foxglove nestled into the trench and with dirt tamped down around it.
Digging the planting hole for the Coriander with the All Steel Spade
The Coriander watered in and tamped down with dirt.
The three plants bedded down into the soil; you will notice that I have deliberately not taken all the weeds away; this is down to inspiration from The One Straw Revolution which is a book I got for my birthday and have read through without any pause; I cannot recommend it highly enough.
The lettuce are starting to actually look like lettuce now.
This is the broccoli, almost unrecognisable from the tiny little plants that were all that were there before the sun finally came out and they have exploded into life.
The Onion spikes are still tiny but they are growing again I think.
Today I also moved the Carrots and the Parsnips outside (I have put a cover over each to stop birds taking the seedlings) so hopefully these will now also start to thrive.
A panoramic photo of the growing things in the back garden. From left to right: Coriander, Foxglove and Chives in the bed, Broccoli and Onions in the terracotta pots, Parsnip and Carrot in the square white, Lettuce in the round white and finally the Potatoes in the green planters.
So, that is the update and planting from outside. The next thing I achieved today was last week I saved some seeds from a Pepper I used whilst cooking.
The Pepper seeds saved from cooking last week drying on kitchen paper.
All the seeds separated from the casings and ready for planting or storing.
I've used my last empty TicTac box for the Peppers.
I have planted four Pepper seeds into my empty Heated Propagator trays.
The Heated Propagator is now on the bedroom windowsill which gets more direct sunlight than the dining room window which is effected by the kitchen extension blocking the sun.
The two Ghost Chilli seedlings in the sun; I am sure that with the increase in direct light these will have a growth spurt.
The Birsdeye Chillis have now started showing some second and third growth and as such are looking much healthier than they were a few weeks ago.
Three Crossley Special chillis in a location which gets solid afternoon sun and demonstrating just how much they enjoy the sun; shortly these will have to be staked soon to stop them collapsing as they have started to do so.
One of the most exciting updates is the Citrus plant has suddenly got LOADS of flowers on it; fingers crossed all of these will turn into fruit. I am expecting to have to self-pollinate, but maybe I'll just keep opening the window next to it.
This is the middle Begonia seedling, and I picked this picture to show the tiny hairs on the stalk .
All five Begonia seedlings with two very well established at the edges, and the others much smaller; the picture above is of the seedling in the middle of this tray.
This detail of the Bromeliad shows how the red leaves start brightest at the centre, and as they spread out and down they start to lose their red colouration and turn green (look to the bottom left of the picture).
The Gardeners Delight seedling which has finally sprouted has already put out second growth; I think this is going to sprint now to catch up with its Moneymaker brothers.
And here is one of its brothers; the Moneymaker Tomato.
Lastly for this monster length update this is the Dining Room window sill now; with (left to right) Moneymaker Tomato, Geranium, Gardeners Delight Tomato (not sprouted yet), another Geranium and finally the Gardeners Delight Tomato which has sprouted.
So, there you are; it's that exciting time of year when everything starts growing and gardeners get outside after the freezing cold of our extended winter.
I did take some other pictures of the trees in the garden showing shoots but thought you'd probably have enough pictures to look at here.
Keep growing, keep reading.
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