It’s finally warmed up enough for me to plant this years chilli seeds in the propagator:
Notice the lovely labels that were a welcome Christmas present!
They’re now on the heated tray on the windowsill in the hall:
While I had a subscription to Gardener’s World Magazine, I sent off for some mini plug plants, which only cost the postage. They arrived in what looked like an impossibly small package, but inside were 30 tiny plants in 30 tiny pots.
They were quite damp and seemed to be happy, but I thought it best to up-pot them pretty quickly.
It turned out that some of the tiny pots actually held more than one seedling, but I put each pot’s worth into one of my home made paper pots.
Now I am left with 30 tiny plant pots. Can I find another use for them, so they are not single-use plastic?
This year, for the first time in several, I have had time to gather some herbs for the freezer.
Here’s a big bowl of herbs ready for sorting.
And here they are sorted. The lids are from pots I have used in previous years, although not recently.
And here are the stalks, the leaves which weren’t good enough, and a few dandelions.
The herb bed has been particularly good this year, and I have really enjoyed using it. I even took a bag of herbs with me on holiday, which livened up what is usually very plain cooking when we’re away.
Our chilli plants are now producing useful fruit. These are the colourful Masquerade variety:
And these are Rawit:
The regency stays I have been making are ready for the final fitting – this really will be the moment of truth! If they are OK, I will add eyelets for the lacing. If not – start again 🙁
The shoulder strap is a long way from the tab. When I try it on myself, they might come closer, but if not, I’ll need a long lace! I won’t be wearing them over a turquoise t-shirt, by the way, that’s just so they show up in the photo.
Most of the eyelets will be down the two sides of the back, where the stays will be laced.
Meanwhile, a cactus which I was convinced had died has flowered! Here it is awake:
And here it is asleep! Isn’t nature amazing?
There are a number of wild flowers growing about the garden, sown from a packet I found in my collection. Most of them are hard to tell from weeds, but a few of them have flowered. One I particularly like looked like a mini lysianthus when it was in bud, but opened much wider and is quite beautiful – it’s the red one in the photo.
Meanwhile, I have planted out parsley and coriander seedlings. The basil is still too small. I have a few small geraniums waiting, and a couple of minute violas and petunias which have survived out of the many I sowed in early spring. The overall success rate of my little pots has been rather disappointing.
But some of the seedlings from Rhey have flowered!
So, I’ve finished my dress:
As it’s a winter dress, I now put it away until the autumn. By which time it’ll be a nice surprise…
I also moved Phil’s cucurbits to their new home – having first untangled them from the spider plant!
In fact, I spent most of Monday putting various things into new pots…
In between, I am still spending time at the computer learning all sorts of new technology, continuing with my reading challenge and finding new and exciting things to cook. For the first time in my life, having loads of different things to do seems like a blessing!
Now the weather is looking more summer than mid-winter, I’ve moved our Chilli plants into the conservatory.
I’m very pleased that one of the Masquerade plants has already started flowering!
I am delighted that the peony, which looked a bit shocked after I moved it last year, has started to regrow. I hope it will be happier in the pot than in the shady bed it was in before.
The lovage has also come back, which is always a relief. I would be distraught if I lost that plant; it’s probably the herb I use most of. I saved some seeds last year, which I have just sown. Fingers crossed, I will have some backup plants. The grape hyacinths shouldn’t really be there, but they are pretty!
I was just about to plant some seeds in the electric propagator for next year’s chilli plants, and it was suggested that it would be better to divide the tray up.
So after a bit of measurement and design later, I set the 3D printer going. It took a while, but used surprisingly little plastic:
Hopefully, this will help stop the roots getting entangled.
Now just need to print two more for the other trays!