Following all my seed sowing in March it was time to prick out the little seedlings and get them into small pots with a bit more compost and room for growth. I used quite a variety of small seed trays and cells or basically anything I have to hand but these little pots have proved really useful for the second phase of growing.
I pricked out these Nasturtiums into slightly bigger pots as although they look tiny here they had a bigger root system than the other seedlings. I've never grow these before so I'm on a steep learning curve and sometimes it feels like I'm making it up as I go along. We'll see how they get on.
For years now I have always sown my tomato, pepper and Jalapeno seeds in this neat little heated windowsill Super 7 propagator. It means I can give then a little more care and attention in the early days and then prick out the seedlings when they are ready.
So that's the first lot of tomato plants potted up. They look really small here but they've been buried deeper in the compost to help produce a stronger and more fruitful plant. They also seem to huff for a few days after re-potting but they'll soon pick up again. I have 7 different varieties here but am still waiting for my stalwart Sungold and Gardeners' Delight to germinate.
I was really dismayed to find that my pea and bean seeds had not survived the damp winter particularly well but as I hate waste I thought I'd give them a go and have been pleasantly surprised by the results. Three varieties of peas and one of broad beans with a few more still germinating.
Yet another willow to add to our collection, another cheapy supermarket buy and this time a twisted willow. You may guess by now that we have a lot of wet/marshy areas and so willow is the plant of choice. We also bought 3 final fruit trees for the orchard, an apple, pear and plum; if they become established then I think that's it for fruit trees.
We were blessed with some lovely warm and sunny days at the start of April and as the ground dried out it was time for M to get on the mower and check it still worked. After a quick zoom around with the mower and grass clippers the orchard looked so much better after it's winter sleep.
As the sun has started to shine so the salad crop has started to grow, the lettuce and rocket will take quite a few more weeks to mature but the radish should be ready soon-ish.
Last year M decided to revamp this area of the garden. We have no idea what was here before but the whole area was covered in stones with 3 Silver Birch trees planted to the right hand side. After much hard work (by M) there were larger rocks in place and a flowerbed dug over. With the good weather the flowerbed had a top dressing of compost and we (finally) planted out some of the perennials we got last year.
This was another of M's projects last year, the new flowerbed in the garden. The sunshine persuaded me to get out there and weed it, preparing it for new arrivals. It looks really empty just now as the bulbs are only starting to appear. Some of the plants (Lavender and Pelargonium) didn't survive the winter and will have to go, hopefully we will have lots of new plants to replace them soon.
It nice to finish on such a happy note, enjoying the sunshine and the garden when it's time to put your feet up and relax, just for a minute or two of course!
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