In our garden :: April

Ooh at last the sun is out, the warmth of spring has arrived and it's time to get back out into the garden. With the draw of the wonderfully sunny warm weather last weekend my mind has been dreaming of what our garden will produce this year. Last summer we bought a greenhouse and this is my first time I've had to make the most of it during spring.

A few weeks ago I spent a Sunday afternoon weeding our garden, preparing the raised beds, tidying our greenhouse and setting up our garden space for a season of planting. One hour became five as I tidied our space and lost track of time, only realising the time when the light levels started to drop. I started planting a few seeds that weekend to make a start on the growing process. Peppers and basil were both planted into left over blueberry punnets and placed onto our bathroom window sill to germinate. A few weeks on I think that they are nearly ready to prick out into separate pots.

 

I'm on the beginning of my journey with growing seeds. Last year I managed to grow a few nasturtiums and stocks from seed but apart from those I did manage to kill quite a few too as I didn't tend for the seedings as well as I ought to have done. A lesson learnt! I wanted this year to be different plus to make use of our greenhouse for the part of the planting process that happens at this time of year.

The further stage of seed planting began again last weekend. I had a moment of feeling a little middle aged late on Saturday afternoon, I popped on my wellies, grabbed a mug of tea and the radio and headed off to the greenhouse to make a start planting the seeds. Carefully reading the backs of the seed packets I started to work out what I needed to plant when and where. Many of the seeds need the warmth of our home to kick start the germination process and so our bathroom has become the dedicated seed germination space. I have limited space with warmth and good light to start seedlings off inside our home and so I've decided to stagger the seed planting process. In a way this feels like a good idea because each of the following stages after germination can be taken in small batches to plant out at a time.

Sitting in trays of seed compost in our bathroom are the following - courgettes, tomatoes, stocks, antirhinnums, sweet william, nasturtiums, petunias and marigolds. I wonder how I will get on growing these and whether they will flower and grow well. Fingers crossed!

Planting seeds for our edible garden

Over the past few weeks I've been planning what I would like to grow this summer in our courtyard garden. Our little space is quite a shady, we don't get a lot of direct sunshine so growing some plants can be a little hit and miss! There are a few spaces in our courtyard that get sunshine so I try and arrange pots and containers to make the most of the light. I'm planning to make more of the sunny spaces this summer and I'll keep you posted with my plans and how things are growing.

I bought a few packets of seeds to kick start growing things in our containers. I decided I wanted to start to create an edible garden with some variety to what we are growing. I'm having a go at growing lettuce leaves, radishes, spinach, spring onions, beetroot, courgettes and carrots from seed. I've also planted some nasturtium seeds too, so that we can use the flowers in salads. Our rocket planted last year is still growing but I think I'll sew some new rocket seeds soon to ensure we have some fresh leaves and the flavour of the leaves is not too bitter.

Following the instructions on the seed packets I've planted some of the seeds directly into newly dug soil within the containers we have. I've also sewn some seeds in seed trays and left them to grow in front of our window in the lounge, making the most of the warmth in our flat. I'm pleased to say that the radishes planted both inside and out are starting to sprout. The lettuce seeds are trying to grow too.

All the other seeds are lying dormant at the moment. I'm hoping the weather will continue to get warmer so that the seeds will start to make an appearance.

Over the next month or so I'm going to plant some chillies and some new herbs in our window box. I'll keep you updated on the progress of our edible garden. Let's hope the weather is better this summer and we get a better crop. I'm really looking forward to having home grown salad leaves and dressings made with herbs sourced a few steps away from our kitchen.

Springtime Planting

At last Spring definitely feels like it is on its way. With foggy mornings, blossom covering some of the trees and a gentle warmth to sunny days. This time of year is always so refreshing, with a change from the rainy cold miserable days, to the joy of more hours of daylight and a mildness in the air. I love it when the seasons change...I've recently packed away my chunky winter scarves and replaced them with my favourite light springtime ones instead!

I live in a little basement flat which was built in the 18th century, I love it as it has its charms and little alcoves for my many books. We don’t get the best light throughout the flat, however we are very lucky to have our own courtyard garden with unique archways and a little cave at the back. The problem is that it is a sunken courtyard garden, we live on a steep hill with other houses surrounding us and so we struggle to get all light we need to grow plants successfully. Last year we managed some green tomatoes and one courgette! I don’t think that my heart was in it last year but this year I want to try a bit harder and really look after things, plant some flowers to brighten up the space and hope that the veg I plant may some how grow much better this year!

Over the past few weekends I’ve been preparing our courtyard garden space ready for Spring. I’m really enjoying being outside in our courtyard at the weekends, whether I'm tidying up our little space, looking at the plants coming back to life after winter or pootling around planting things in various containers. Being in the fresh air is such a great way to have space for time to think and clear your head of the weekly goings on. A few months ago in my post Planting Onions I was hopeful that the onion bulbs I planted were going to do something! I'm proud to let you see that they are coming on nicely!

We have a few chunky windowsills that do get some light, so I took the plunge and a few weekends ago I planted some window boxes to brighten up the window sills. I wanted to make the most of the spaces that get the most sunlight and usher in the spring with some cheerful primroses and narcissus…oh and look how they’ve bloomed! I love seeing these happy flowers when I look out of our windows.

I was in the mood for planting so I sowed some seeds to see what I could grow!

I bought seeds to grow courgettes, marigolds, nasturtiums, peppers and geraniums. They have now been planted and placed near the window in propagators. Look what a dose of water and inside warmth has done to the courgette seeds and nasturtiums in a few weeks…

The other seeds are still dormant so I’ll wait and see what happens to them! Outside in our containers I planted carrot seeds and lettuce seeds, but upon checking them this morning nothing seems to be happening with these either. I have no idea if any of them will grow but it's worth a go.

Alongside the planting came the desire to have a spring clean of our outside space. So I swept the courtyard, tidied up the pots, moved some containers and gave our new little wooden greenhouse some clear oil protector in the hope that it will last many years. 

Finally I potted up some pink and blue hyacinths that I’d bought...and look how they’ve bloomed...

I’ll keep you posted on my gardening developments over the coming months! Fingers crossed some more seeds will germinate this week... I'd love to hear about what you are planting at the moment.