More growing...

It is still absolutely glorious here and all the plants are busy producing buds, leaves and in some cases even blossoms.  How lovely it looks when everything is coming back to life after winter!

The tomato seeds are germinating nicely.  No signs yet of the pepper seeds germinating but I only put those in a couple of days ago, so no surprise there.  Outside the garlic and onions are continuing to make good progress and I can't wait for the first sign of the potato plants appearing - then it will be a busy time with earthing them up and keeping fingers crossed for a good crop :-)  Not too long now until I can start sowing lettuce seeds into the raised bed - we will go for lambs lettuce again as that worked really well last year but this time I need to remember to sow every couple of weeks for ongoing supplies.  I might also try gem lettuce but with extra slug protection (ie plastic covers).  I am still thinking about what else I could give a go... This time of year is just so exciting and I don't want to miss out on the chance to grow produce. :-)

I also can't wait for jam making time!  We will go strawberry picking then and I will make jam for the larder - the blackberry & apple jelly I made last year was very tasty indeed but we'll have to wait until autumn to replenish our supplies.  Still have a few jars left...

No news on the cooking/baking front - I have been making more rolls and bread but haven't bothered mentioning it here or posting photos.  Thanks to the River Cottage Bread book they are pretty much fool-proof...famous last words! :-)

Little miracles

Tomato seed germinating...

Now, I don't know about you but I never cease to be amazed at what nature does! 

It's only been a few days since I put the tomato seeds into compost and under the propagator and look what happened: the first little fella appeared yesterday late afternoon!  Not only that but by this morning he not only had straightened himself out but another one did exactly the same thing as did a couple more in another pot!  Amazing to think that (hopefully) these little chaps will grow into tomato-bearing plants in just a few months! I find it all rather humbling!

I am checking every day as to what progress the rest of my crops is making.  So far, nothing else has come up but at least I can see that the garlic is growing nicely. 

Ta-da...two little seeds have germinated!

I am experimenting with yellow pepper seeds as well - just took a few seeds from a shop-bought bell pepper and put it into compost & into the propagator in a sunny spot.  I shall report on any progress ... if there is any...

It is still really sunny here, so running by the sea this morning was beautiful - well, the view was...the running was rather hard but enjoyable nonetheless.  The weather is forecast to last until at least the weekend, so I will definitely have to remember to water the crops!