Quietly growing in the background

Hi all, did you miss me?  I was a bit shocked to realise that I haven't posted in nearly a month!  I think the blog and I have just been waiting quietly and impatiently for seeds to grow.  Also we have been doing more mundane things around the garden like repairing the lawn, shifting dirt piles, weeding, chopping down trees, and re-organising the front garden flower bed, so I haven't been too lazy, honest!

You may remember the seed packet bonanza that I mentioned in a previous post ... well I planted them out in seed trays shortly after they arrived and have been hovering over them like a broody hen ever since ... maybe that has more to do with the reason I haven't blogged, I've been too busy running to the greenhouse every 5 mins to see if anything has grown yet!  

Seeds - day 1.  I wish they were instant!

Out of the many packets I ordered, I've started off by sowing seeds of Cos lettuces, basil, peas, sugar snaps, endamame, beans, Jalapenos and four different tomato varieties.  I was getting a bit nervous around the 2 week mark as only the lettuce was showing signs of life, but then two days later there were tiny tiny little basil, pea and tomato seedlings



Week 2 - things are looking good!

The more successful toms

I've had a mixed bag success wise ... the lettuce, basil, peas, jalapenos and 2 of the 4 tomatoes have had a great success rate.  The endamame are a total no show. The sugar snaps and other 2 of 4 tomatoes are only a 50% strike rate and to be honest, I am not sure what is going on with the beans.  However, I'm going to call that a not too bad effort on the first mass seed growing effort!

Lettuces ready for their container upgrade

The Cos lettuce is ready to be upgraded to a bigger seedling pot, and I will keep them in the greenhouse until the weather is a bit more reliable and then plant out in the garden.  The peas are nearly ready to go outside too.  I don't think it will be long until the tomatoes need to be upgraded to pots as well.

Peas - with a sadly empty row of endamame!

The potatoes are looking good as well, they should be going out in the garden any minute now ... 

I've got the feeling that next weekend is going to be a very busy time in the garden.   So after a few weeks of silence, be prepared from an onslaught of new blog posts ... keep an eye out for potatoes part 2 (to follow the earlier potatoes part 1).