Finally, the Easter holidays are here. It’s been a rough term at school and I’m relieved to have made it to April relatively unscathed. This final term is my favourite of all – the senior students are off on study leave so the school is quieter and there are lots of fun activities dotted throughout the term. Also, the sun is shining and my days feel more balanced as I can potter in the garden after work for a solid few hours. The swingy seat will definitely be my base for the next few months!
Although the garden is still quite empty, perennials are popping up and the greenhouse is looking lush! Storm Dave has put a stop to some of my planting out plans this weekend – I think the onions and broads beans are itching to get their roots in the soil but at least it’s giving me the chance to harden them off properly. If they can survive Dave blowing them about the place for a few hours a day, I’m sure they’ll cope next week when it’s due to warm up.
The toilet roll tubes for the broad beans have been great. They’re still holding up but I can tell that they will break down quickly once they’re in the ground. We do have plastic root trainers but they’re a bit of a faff and always seem to topple over so I’m enjoying the simplicity of the tubes.
It’s sunny but cold so I’ve spent more time in the greenhouse this weekend potting on and sowing more seeds. The peppers seem to be doing well with the cosy house at night and the sunshine in the greenhouse all day. Now that they have more space to grow, it’ll be fun watching them thrive over the next couple of months. I’ll likely top them in May – this is where you prune them in a way that encourages bushier growth rather than one single stem, making them more able to cope with the weight of the fruit they’ll bear in the summer months.
One of the things I find tricky as the weather gets warmer, is keeping on top of watering seedlings. Bigger plants seem to be ok but if you forget to water seedlings (or water them too much), they will likely die or be severely stunted. Gardening Naturally reached out to me a couple of months ago and asked if I’d consider trying some of their products and sharing the ones that I liked/worked well. They sent me a self-watering propagation system (it’s called the Super 7 Self Watering Propagator) and it has been excellent so far. There’s a reservoir at the bottom where you fill it up with water. There’s then a capillary mat that sits on top of a little stage and hangs down into the reservoir and remains consistently wet. The seedling trays then sit on top of the mat and pull up water as and when they need it.
It fits perfectly on our windowsill so it’ll be great inside our house in early spring next year but, right now, it’s just what the greenhouse needs. Although it’s cold at night, it’s gloriously warm during the day and the seedlings dry out quickly. The self-watering nature of this system means less work for me to do, which is always a win. We have a bay window in our living room so I’m considering getting a heated one too.
We moved the Veg Trug to the greenhouse last month so that I could give my little salad type seedlings a head start. We bought the herb garden one which is a bit smaller so it’s essentially our growing space for salad and stir fry leaves. So far we have: spinach, lettuce, pak choi, baby carrots, beetroot (for leaves) and chard.
…and I think that’s pretty much it! Oh other than our annual family sunflower competition is finally on. Seeds and pots picked, sown and in the greenhouse. My husband works from home most of the time and has told us he’s going to skew the results by playing classical music for his seedlings while berating the others. Keeping my eyes on him.
Also, we’ve also planted three pots worth of tatties with the rest to follow in the next week or so.
I’d love to hear what you have growing! And, as always, if you have any tips or ideas for how we can make our garden even more lovely, please let me know.
