Seeds and snowdrops

Today I planted some more seeds; this time it was tomatoes and more chillies.  The chilli seeds were brought from the South Devon Chilli Farm, who have a great reputation, and I had great success with their seeds last year.  So today it was a yellow chilli that went in - Golden Cayenne - another HOT one! 

The sun was streaming in the window and the windowsills were positively crying out to be filled full of seeds to germinate!  Spring feels as though it is just around the corner....

 

Here is my seed collection for this season.  Some are leftover from last year, others, I have just purchased.  And some were freebies I picked up along the way!

The snowdrops are really adding a Spring-like feel to the garden now.

The slightly warmer temperatures and sunshine are making me want to start getting the garden into order again.  Despite it being a very small space, it needs a lot of work as it has been neglected over the winter.  The soil needs clearing of cat poo and turning over.  Last years dead things needs cutting back and clearing.   Toys need moving and we need to put guttering on the garage to prevent it flooding one of the beds I want to use for veggies.  I also need to sort out the patio tubs I use - many of them are water-logged with old, wet compost, which needs partly throwing and partly mixing with new compost (which I need to acquire!). 

The greenhouse needs sorting and I need to move the guinea pigs back outside, although I will wait a few more weeks for this.  The shelves I will use for seedlings need putting up in the greenhouse.  And that's all for starters!

I am going to try and aim for 20 minutes per day in the garden from now on (with the exception of Monday/Tuesdays) to start getting things sorted. 

Small things make me happy

Today the small things that made me happy were: 

• Starting a new blog about the things I like to grow,
• Noticing that the snowdrops in my garden were about to bloom,
• Planting my first seeds of 2013

I LOVE this time of year... not quite as much as Spring or Summer, but close enough!  Winter is still cold and bleak at times, but there are tiny little signs everywhere that Spring will soon be here.

My garden is full of debris and dead things which I was too lazy to clear away at the end of 2012.  But through that debris, there are signs of new life.  The snowdrops are pushing through - and even very nearly blooming!  There are other bulbs coming through, including daffodils and crocuses.  There are starlings and blackbirds clearly building nests in the large hedge between our neighbour and us.  The weather may still be icy, but changes are happening.  My youngest daughter turns 6 at the end of February and every year the snowdrops bloom in time for her birthday.  It marked the end of a long cold winter being pregnant, back in 2007.  The day the snowdrops bloomed, that is when she decided to come earth side.  So the snowdrops still mean a huge burst of good feelings around here, for many, many reasons.

 I haven't made lots of plans yet about what exactly I want to grow this year, but I do know that chillies and tomatoes will be part of these plans.  I found that last year that both of these did very well from having a longer growing season after I started them off in February, inside.  The chillies benefited from germinating in the warm, on top of the fireplace and later on the windowsill as the sun rose high enough to shine beams over the hedge and into the house.  

So it made me happy today to fill a small propagator with chilli seeds, which came from last years home-grown chillies.  I had hung my 2012 harvest up to dry in the Autumn and we are still using them now for cooking.  Each chilli is FULL of perfectly preserved seeds, and because the chilli has been dried, I have simply cut the top off the chilli, and tipped the seeds out.  The chilli can be used for cooking and the seeds can be planted :-)

2012's crop drying out, full of seeds.

Seeds sown and being coaxed to germinate on the fireguard

 I have not yet bought tomato seeds, so I filled the other half of the propagator with coriander seeds.  I have had limited success with coriander from year to year - it tends to bolt before I can make use of it.  I thought I would try it early this year to see if I can get more usable leaves before the sun gets strong and convinces my coriander plants to run to seed and produce flowers instead of edible leaves!