Pea Shoots Shooting

It's hard not to get excited and carried away at this time of year - I love it! 

So far I've got two types to peas coming up (a mangetout and a soup pea for drying) and the broad beans were just breaking the soil today (I could have been so much earlier with the broad beans if I'd been organised!).

In the greenhouse I've also started two types of beetroot, kohlrabi, red cabbage, sage, globe artichoke (coming up today), red Russian kale (for baby leaf), celeriac, coriander (cilantro for you guys on the other side of the pond) and three different lettuce, I'm planing on sowing some carrots as well and protecting a bed with some plastic to get them earlier. 

Who else has gone mad on sowing seeds already?

I'm planning on transplanting most early crops this year to give me a bit of a head start! 

Also if you've got a spare 60 seconds pop over to this survey and vote for my blog please! It's for best smallholding blog, and although there's no prize it would still be nice to win! Thanks! 

Windowsill Gardening

The growing season here can be pretty short, we aren't really frost free until the second week in June, although it can be much earlier than that, anything before is a risk. So to extend the season I start most tender plants off in the greenhouse or in the house.

Pepper plants and other seedlings coming along, melons and cucumbers mainly as well as more strawberries.

 This year I've been using the windowsill to their full potential, starting lots of seeds in my heated propagator as well as potting on tomatoes and letting them grow on in the house. I've still got lots growing in the greenhouse but this way I'm hedging my bets encase it freezes hard one night and I don't realise in time. 

Chilli Pepper plants in the living room

 So all my south facing windows are full, there's about nine varieties of chilli peppers, three types of tomatoes (with another 6 types in the greenhouse)  and then some Minnesota melon seedlings, heritage cucumber and a Mexican herb I've forgotten the name of spread all round the house. The only room I've haven't put plants in is my girls bedroom as it has a blackout blind and I'd rather go without tomatoes than that in the summer, as it makes them sleep past sunrise! 

Some leggy Tomatoes, they should be okay but it shows that starting them too early can be a bad thing. Some are just forming their first truss.  

Who else has a house that's filling up with plants desperate to go outside?