sweet pea
The big seed sowing day…
It was a cold Sunday morning! Not the best allotment weather. I only had an hour or so… Bit manic with it being mother’s day!
So I got my seed hit list selected. Flossie helped!
And then i legged it to sow in the greenhouse:
Tomatoes
Sunflower
Beetroot
Borage
Broadbeans…as I might have dug some of mine up in my impatience for them to grow outside. Probably need a much bigger pot to….! Let’s call it an experiment!
The cucumber and courgette seeds went in, and taken back to the safety of the mini greenhouse in my kitchen.
And I covered my rhubarb… Monty said so!! As did a magazing cutting from a friend at work 🙂 so I thought I better do it! I recycled the half water butt left on our plot.
I got some proper photos of my onions and garlic…
And the beloved sweet peas!!
I ran out of seed compost… So that was my lot. I’m going to hang back with my outdoor seeds as the weather is really turning at the moment. Brrr!
Getting busy in the greenhouse
We have been away and so I had held back on seed planting. But this weekend I’m getting busy!!
I ran to the plot this morning. My greenhouse bits hadn’t been watered… In nearly… Eeeek!…2 weeks! I literally had a few minutes to water inspect and run for my train to work.
But I’m pleased and surprised to say the sweet peas have germinated! 😁 which makes me a very happy bunny! It’s a bit hit and miss… But I did plant far to many. Also not being watered in 2 weeks may have weeded out the weaklings! Needless to say I gave them a little water. It will be interesting to see what else appears. But they look to be sturdy little seedlings! And most importantly they grew!!
And my onions are garlic are also showing signs of life. Garlic is cracking along! But a little water will no doubt help 🙂
And super exciting news! My chilli peppers germinated (at home in mini greenhouse) again a bit hit and miss about 1/2. But chillies are a bit tricky and I did drop my pots on the floor!! So it’s a surprising anything made it!
My green ear was also excited to hear on the radio about Kew gardens setting up a new kitchen garden where the old kitchen garden was! It’s called ‘Kew on a plate’ I assume this was filmed last year so I can’t wait to see the garden this year… I might try and check it out first hand in a few months. The TV program starts on Monday BBC 2! And has the lovely Kate humble presenting! I might have to invest in a Kew pass… So I can perve on the veggie patch through the year!!
To my sweet pea
I’m a little obsesed with sweet peas, and very determind to grow them for a second year. Last year we grew a few for our wedding… So now when I see sweet peas it makes me smile! Mainly because of how much I was willing them to bloom!
Here they are probably early July… When they were in full bloom. We had been away on honeymoon for 2 weeks. So we probably missed the best blooms. But it was a nice suprise when we got back.
Here are some I collected for a neighbour
This is one of the bunches….at our wedding. These ones literally bloomed the day before the wedding in June.
We had a florist to do the house flowers. That equally became an obsession on its own right. I did learn something… That florists and I really don’t really work. I much prefer the growing!
This year I am trying to work out new ways to squish sweet peas into the ends of beds…. Then I found this inspiration image online! Which looks rather pretty!
I collected pea children from last year, and I am planning to soak and sow them soon indoors. Hopefully with a cosy start they will get nice and strong like last years plants. I’m always a bit nervous starting seeds now as they can get a bit leggy. Looking forward to getting them growing!
The first flower!
Woooo! We have lift of with the first flowers!
And it was a pink and white… Raspberry ripple?! Feeling very proud of my sweet peas!
Trip time, sleepy bee and the sweet pea!
I have been away for one week. Mostly working, but we saw some amazing sights.
These are two photos taken at a temple in Shanghai.
And a bemused panda spotted at a market.
But the good news is my sweet peas have recieved great tlc! I even got a photo whilst i was away!
On Monday I had the day off to catch up with jet lag… I went down the plot… Got stung by a bee who was sleeping in the thumb of my glove. He survived and lucky for me it was a sleepy sting. But he started buzzing around so I decided to retreat to the flat. I made lots of mess, but got most potted up. And popped some out on the balcony to toughen up!
My extra seeds arrived… So that’s on my weekend to do list! It’s exciting to get the plants going, but I need to get them out to the green house asap!
Potato army and sweet pea love!
My first house seedlings have sprung!… But now I’m abandoning them… and heading away for a week on work. Luckily I have my gardening assistant on hand to keep them happy! I have never grown sweet peas from seed; hopefully they are not getting two leggy! With all this horrid weather and storms it’s good to see something growing again.
Also and my potatoes arrived; so they are all merrily chitting away. Happy days!
Also my garlic and onions are still making progress down the plot.
I really need to do a plot plan this year! Something to do on the plane!!
I think we are fairly lucky our site seems free draining; maybe all those stones are helping after all! But having seen the damage done by the tree on the plot shops… I do fear for our green house. But fingers crossed!
Can’t wait to get back from my trip and get some more things growing! Shocked to think it is nearly March!!
Plot dreaming out… And back to reality x
Soaking my peas!
Today we visited a florist in preparation for our wedding. So I was feeling rather inspired today….so I just remembered to soak my sweet pea seeds; in prep for planning on Sunday morning!
The chillies and the skinned finger
So we tried the chillies!
They were hot and smell like rhubarb. I am now trying to re home my mountain of chocolate habenero chillies, as they literally set your mouth on fire! But I am going to try a rocket booster chutney with a few! Also my ‘nice’ chillies are getting ripe… finally.
Today I gathered a surprising amount of tomatoes, some small Courgettes and Rosemary (which I accidentally lopped off) not a bad haul! I’m amazed my tomatoes just keep going in the greenhouse. Even with once a week watering!
I also skinned my finger, whilst digging in half the green manure. You can are the rather hedge like patch…
I saw a late sweet pea flower too!
