Saturday 24 March 2007

green fingers?

I potted up some cabbage seedlings today. Planted leeks and purple sprouting broccoli and burgess buttercup squash. I built some staging for my greenhouse and also this...



Although rustic I am still proud of it (or I will be if it stands up to the wind). I know you shouldn't count your chickens before they hatch, or your vegetables before they've grown, but hopefully the squash will climb up here and be lovely and under control (unlike last year where they ran wild and took over a whole bed with giant leaves, male flowers and not much else...).



I don't think the cabbages enjoyed being transplanted. Although I moved them as carefully as I could, they still look a bit droopy and, well, sorry for themselves. I have given them a nice drink, and hopefully they will perk up by the morning.



Look at the sprouter! I'm so pleased to see this little pepper pushing up through the soil. I planted these peppers and chillies weeks ago and I was just about to give up on them. The seed packet gave all these stern instructions about depth and soil type and temperature, and I put them in scratty containers I found in the shed, left them on the cold window sill and forgot to water them. This week I've had them on the radiator a bit and wrapped them in plastic bags, and generally faffed around. I was just about to have a root around to see if anything was happening under the soil when I noticed the sprouter! When I looked closely there's about 6 coming up and I'm beaming. Ahh, simple pleasures :)



Bit of an experiment now. Some leeks growing in loo rolls, the idea being that when they are big enough to go outside the rolls will go straight into the ground, biodegrade, and the leeks will grow big and strong as the roots haven't been disturbed. Or that's the theory. Time will tell.

All in all a productive day. Why can't every day be like this... Say goodnight to the chickos!

1 comment:

amisha said...

hi sarah! i love seeing all your little seedlings... congrats on the sprouter :) my garden is always a mystery to me... what comes up and what doesn't... seeing those first few leaves is such a thrill!