Thursday 16 April 2015

Sowing the seeds with love

I am the fairest of fairweather gardeners. Come October and the last of the tomatoes have been picked, the days are colder and the nights draw in I turn my back on the garden. Throughout winter and its frosts, snow, wind and rain I leave the garden to fend for itself. The rosemary bush battles on while the hydrangea flowers slowly turn brown and protect the new spring shoots.
This year the winter seems to have rolled on and on. The weather hasn't been particularly harsh but the coldness and grey days have dragged on and on. Up to Easter Day I was still wearing my winter coat (although to those that know this won't come as a surprise!). Then the Sun with its spring warmth appeared and suddenly I felt it was time to step out and start getting things sorted. I had a look through my seed box (yes, it's an old Yorkshire Tea cardboard container) and found the usual collection of out of date seeds. Last year I had success with old seeds so I went through to see what I fancied sowing first. I found Ailsa Craig tomatoes and some rocket so the first two trays were easy. Since I didn't sow anything until 11th May last year (you see fairweather!) I was dubious that the greenhouse would be too cold for germination purposes but the rocket seedlings have already poked their heads up.
I always like to grow some French beans. I had some of the 'speedy' ones left over from last year but I wasn't particularly impressed with either their speed of growth or their size. A trip to the garden centre changed this and I asked the Junior JibberJabbers what they would like to grow. Of course their eyes were taken by the Suttons range designed especially for children so we bought the vegetable pack (yes I know tomatoes and cucumbers are strictly vegetables!) and the herb one as I wanted some parsley and basil seeds anyway. I filled up my usual French bean tub and got the kids to make small holes around and pop a bean in each of them. Miss JibberJabber then wrote out the name tag and got the idea that there could be a Brownie badge associated with this activity. There is and so I have an under-gardener for the next couple of months.
Yesterday I decided to get the next batch of tomato seeds sown. This time the Gardener's Delight from the Suttons kids pack. I asked Master JibberJabber to help me and he insisted on donning his 'plant gloves' and getting his tools out of his gardening bag. I'm not sure the seeds on the right hand of the tray were covered; more like dug in. I'm only after about three strong plants so hopefully the ones on the left hand side will suffice my needs!
After that there was just one more job to do and it's one of Master JibberJabber's favourite – watering! With so many tubs and containers appearing in the next couple of weeks I think he is going to be busy.

12 comments:

  1. i now have tears for fears playing in my head lol!

    ReplyDelete
  2. We've just moved but I really hope to set up a small vegetable patch which the kids have to help me with...have to check if perhaps a Beavers badge to make sure they fulfill their roles as undergardeners too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. lol please can i borrow your little master i have a hour of watering to do every other day i promise a meal and good pay, and i will even make him a special badge too. i have never planted tomatoes from seed i dont know why lazy, scared, habit, worried of blite i always buy the plants which is really odd as everything i grow from scratch and seed even alliums which is a bulb, next year i will take your lead

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've sown some French beans this year too - although I don't think they speedy seeds. I had some speedy lettuce leaves last year and it took much longer than 3 weeks for them to be edible! Glad to hear you have a helper, it's always more fun with a companion :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm later than usual with my seeds too this year, but I"m hoping they'll forgive me and catch up as it's warmer now - I've started in February before and have ended up with leggy tomatoes that I've needed to plant very deeply to give them a chance of not blowing over! The worst bit about seeds though is waiting for them to do their thing!! #hdygg

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ahhh we need to plant some seeds too, hopefully when the kids go back to school it'll give me the time to gather the bits and bobs ready for the kiddos planting time! So lovely to do these things as a family isn't it?
    Thanks for joining in again garden-jibbery-jabbery x

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ooh lots of good seed effort there - I had a similar session with my two last week and lots of little green things are already peeping out of the trays, I think I'm just as impatient as they are for things to grow! I've yet to meet a child who can resist a good watering session!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Must plant some more seeds, and recruit someone to do the watering!

    ReplyDelete
  9. its make or break time now with planting seeds and waiting to see what comes through

    ReplyDelete
  10. I always try my old seeds, just can't bear to chuck them away. I'm the same, I also just like being outside when the sun is shining doing my seeds. Great that the kids are helping, my son wanders off when I try to encourage him :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Tears for Fears in the head! It's wonderful to finally get outside isn't it. Sounds like you've been busy beans (pun intended) and how great to get some help too. You're making me have serious planting envy. I have seeds but need to find a home for them :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. yay for brownie patches! i must confess that i stay in winter clothes until it gets quite warm too. now it's time to get busy!!!

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate your comments. If you have any tips, tricks or tweaks please pass them on!