Flowers of Spring

Today I have a short but very sweet update for you.

With Spring (or is it Autumn) finally upon us I have some very nice flowers on a couple of my plants which I thought you may be interested in seeing.

The Citrus flowers which I spotted and posts a photograph about have now started to open and are looking very pretty; there are a LOT of flowers but this was the best picture I took.

The Citrus Tree is still growing well as you can see; with lots of new growth. I am tempted to prune this down at some point.

The seed grown Coriander has probably not been watered enough as it has started putting out tiny little white flowers on the top of each plant.

Well, that was the flower excitement... now for some more normal update pictures:

The late starting Gardeners Delight Tomato seedling has put out more leaves and is growing fast. Hopefully it will catch up and produce some fruit. There is still nothing at all from the other seed yet.

Both Geranium plants are looking very similar; they have very large leaves now which are soaking up whatever sun comes to them on the windowsill.

The five Begonia plants are all enjoying the new experience of having sun on them.

The Birdseye Chilli seedlings are really weedy and pathetic looking still. I really am not sure why they are so sickly still but I have moved them to a more sunny location so fingers firmly crossed.

Last but not least the Globe Artichoke is now really quite tall and seems to be thriving. Each new leaf seems more spiky than the last. I am quite excited about what will happen next and when the "globe" part of its name will become apparent.

Anyway, that's all for today. Thanks for reading and remember to keep growing your own

Lots of progress

So it is the weekend again and it is time for the latest update photographs from around my house.

I have a LOT of photographs so I will crack on now without any further delay.

The mint plant really flourishing. This is left behind the curtains all the time so it has lots of light, and I am watering it about once or twice a week at most.

The Moneymaker Tomato self watering planter. This is the one which I massively over-watered originally however the water has drained through into the reservoir and the soil is now the correct moistness; I think this idea is one of my favourites that I have ever come across.

Gardeners Delight and another Moneymaker Tomato. The self watering planters are really proving themselves.

The two Ghost Chilli Seedlings. I think these need another week or so in the heated propagator however they are looking very strong and healthy.

The biggest of the Crossley Special chillis, showing good second growth. The other five plants are all coming on and I am starting to think it is time to re-pot these into their final homes (which will also free up the heated propagator to allow me to plant other things).

The cloud of Foxglove seedlings seen through the cover of the heated propagator.

At last the second Geranium seedling has popped through. The first one is definitely ready for re-potting.

If you close one eye, squint the other and stand on your head you may be able to see the TINY seedling in this photograph (taken with a zoom lens standing on a chair as I do not have a macro lens... yet) which I think is a Echiniops Ruthenicus seedling. There are two of these showing but the other one is even harder to see!

The tray of Parsnips growing in their toilet rolls. I have been ensuring that there is standing water in the tray at all times.

The only Parsnip seedling so far showing and, as with the Echinops Ruthenicus seedlings, very very tiny.

The tray of Carrot seedlings (and yes, there are a number of seedlings) also with standing water to act as a kind of self watering system.

A single carrot seedling striving to the sky and with it's first little leaves opening nicely.

This carrot seedling has still got it's seed casing around it and stopping the small leaves from opening. This is a problem and I will blog tomorrow about removing it.

The shop bought Chive plant outside and still alive. It is looking a little unhappy, but is still growing. I think this needs moving to a more sunny position.

The shop bought Coriander which has bedded itself in well in it's new home. This, unlike the Chives, looks like it is OK with not being in direct sunlight.

A tiny Lettuce seedling, shown next to some hay and a chunk of moss.

Onion spikes luxuriating in the sun, but not really growing much.

The Broccoli, still the most advanced of my early outdoor plantings, but not really growing much either.

Just to do a quick summary, these early plantings have already been overtaken by the seedlings (like the Carrots) which were planted two months later. I think they have not really been a great success. I am hopeful, though, that with the advent of spring (and yesterday was 1st March) they may suddenly explode into growth and I will get a good early harvest. To test this I will be planting the same seeds again outside in the next month to see if the next seeds overtake the winter planted seeds.

Three oranges growing on the Citrus Tree.

The Citrus Tree (though I'm not sure it is large enough to really warrant the label "tree").

The tray of seed grown coriander which is another success; all the seedlings have reestablished themselves and are growing again.

One of the seed grown Coriander seedlings (which had previously been one of the worst looking seedlings) now showing how much it has grown.

Right, that is my update; short I know :D

It is great to see so much success and I have another blog ready for you tomorrow, and may even get round to doing some of my re-potting today also (which of course I will also photograph and blog).

Keep growing.

Progress including Foxgloves and Chillis with pictures taken over two days

Today I have a double update for you. On Saturday (16th Jan) I went round and took a load of update pictures of all the seedlings and plants for an update which I planned to do on the Sunday.

But then I got distracted and busy and didn't do the update.

So, this morning I went round and took some MORE progress pictures because so much exciting progress had happened.

So without any further ado first off the progress report from Saturday 16th January....

The Geranium seedling; the first of the seedlings to show in the heated propagator.

Tiny foxglove seedlings poking through the soil.

A pioneering Crossley Special Chilli breaking through into the sunlight.

Onion seedlings, still not dead despite all the weather and (probably stupid on my part) decisions made over the winter; now I just hope they start to thrive and I get a good crop.

Broccoli still alive as well and thriving the best of all the early outdoor plantings.

Lettuce seedlings still struggling along and doing their best to not die in the cold weather.

Shop bought chives still underneath the cloche and surviving much better now it's in its larger pot and has space to spread its roots.

Shop bought coriander still looking slightly floppy but much better than if I hadn't potted it out; I am confident now that this will thrive.

The whole mint plant, showing how they put out spreading shoots to try and root in the soil next to the main stem.

The Citrus Tree. It is amazing how much this has grown, with the new growth clearly visible. Over the winter this has put on at least 6 inches of new growth. Outstanding effort.

The seed grown coriander still looks very sad and droopy but I feel it is happier than it was. Fingers crossed this will establish itself within the new compost and grow into plants which I can give away.

The healthiest of the seed grown coriander plants. This really does look like it has steadied itself and will be able to grow and become fruitful.

So there you have it; the update from Saturday.

Now are pictures taken this morning and the progress, particularly of the Chilli plants, is amazing.

Another Crossley Special Chilli showing itself to the world. This has probably only been above the earth for a couple of hours tops.

The Crossley Special Chilli which I showed you earlier in this update take two days later; can you believe how fast seedlings grow!

Another Crossley Special getting its head about the compost.

In all I have five out of the six Crossley Special Chilli seeds now above the compost and showing green. This is outstanding! Sadly there is nothing yet from the Ghost Chillis but I am patient.

A couple of days and the foxgloves have also had a growth spurt. This, to me, is one of my favourite times for growing things - the excitement of waiting for the plants to appear and then the speed at which they grow is just outstanding!

So, that is everything I have to show you today. I find it so inspiring to watch the progress and share it with you.

I hope you are all growing and seeing good progress with your plants.

Cheers.

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 :)