Well, Spring is now officially hoving into view as I've just sown the first seeds of the year this morning. We had a great year for home-grown fruit & veg in 2014 & I'm hoping for a repeat performance this year, if that isn't a cue for every known pest & disease to start making a slow sinister crawl over to 'Hagstones'.
Yes, I've dusted off my little heated propagator & sown my chilli seeds.
I've chosen 'Heatwave' this year. I usually sow one very hot variety & some jalapenos, but I still have plenty of last year's lovely juicy jalapeno crop in the freezer, and have also (so far!) successfully managed to overwinter three plants on a bedroom windowsill.
One of them has even produced a chilli....not something I expected to see in the depths of winter. Chilli seed packets often state 'March or April' for sowing, but I find that here, they usually need an earlier start to get a decent growing season, probably because we're not in a very warm country. If you haven't grown them before, give them a try. They make attractive plants & it's great to be able to snip the fruits off & chuck them straight into a curry or slice them onto a pizza. They freeze well too.
Over the next 3 or 4 weeks, I'll be sowing tomatoes, peppers, aubergines & cucumbers, as well as making a start on all the free packets of flower seed I've accumulated. As a gardener, I just feel my spirits soar as soon as I can get outside & get my mitts in the soil. Like, like, like......AND free vitamin D!
I'm also busy this month doing a de-cluttering challenge. It's called Minsgame if anyone fancies checking out the rules & joining in. The basic idea is to begin on the first day of the month & to increase the target amount of items to de-clutter each day. So on Feb 1st, I got rid of 1 item, on Feb 2nd, 2 items, etc. Today being the 9th, I have shed 9 items. According to the big hairy half of the relationship, I shall have de-cluttered a total of 406 items by the end of the month. So far, I am not finding this challenge difficult, although that may change when I am having to find 20+ items each day. More to the point, I'm enjoying it! Will let you know how I get on at the end of Feb.
Beautiful sunshine today, although a fierce frost froze the garden completely white overnight. I'd like to say that all residents at 'Hagstones' have been kicking up their personal effort levels, but I'm afraid there are still a lot of fireside scenarios like this, where a certain be-whiskered individual is concerned!
Hope everyone is managing to stay lergy-free. I can't remember the last time I had a cold.....but I do seem to get through approximately my own bodyweight in hand-gel every year, so maybe that's helping to nuke a few germs.
Until next time,
Cathy x
Lovely post again!! I am claiming you as my personal tutor in all things gardening, preserving and general craftiness.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing x
I know it's one of your most exciting times of the year, sowing and getting out in the garden! I shall look forward to the progress reports here.....lets hope Spring is around the corner as I am a bit fed up with frosty work mornings LOL
ReplyDeleteYes, haven't we had some frosty mornings lately? Great for a crisp wallk somewhere with a toasty coffee shop, not so motivating for getting off to work.
ReplyDeleteZiggy - I think you definitely do more crafty stuff than me. I mostly just knit these days. Am looking forward to hearing that you have made some lush jam this year.
ReplyDeleteQuite a lot of frosty mornings in Nottm this last week, you must be missing it as you are further east. :-)
ReplyDeleteNo, we've had some proper white frosty starts here over the last week, but it has cleared mostly by lunchtime. Too frozen for me to get into my borders with a spade, anyway x
DeleteThe chilli seeds have been set to germinate chez fanta too but near a warm radiator. I always fail miserably at getting anything usable so here's to 2015!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with those, Carrie. Plants do want to grow, but seedlings are vulnerable to quite small changes in conditions. If they like the temperature & have sufficient water & light, they will grow for you x
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