What a difference two weeks makes

Well, here we are, just two weeks after the last post and what a growth spurt!

Here are the tomatoes and runner beans. The tomatoes are now about 2'6" high, they've grown another 15" in a fortnight. The runner beans are also roughly 2'6" tall which is amazing as they had only just broken through the soil in their small pots two weeks ago. The nights are still a bit too cool for them to be outside but the days are warming up nicely, time for them to be hardened off so they'll be going outside in the daytime and coming back into the sun room at night for the next couple of weeks.

At the back there are the three red peppers, they've also grown considerably and are looking good. Leeks and parsnips are in the tray in front of the peppers, only at first leaf stage so early days but alive and kicking! The beautiful paeony type poppies and a couple of cherry tomatoes are also in this tray. Some poppies have already gone outside and I'm holding on to these inside for a while in case the other seedlings don't make it. The cherry tomatoes are doing well but still too small to pot on.

The African marigolds are coming along nicely, very strong and I'm tempted to put them out but I should really wait a couple more weeks. Also in this tray are two pots each with a healthy red brussel sprout seedling.

On the right, in front of the tomatoes, are a few pots of aptenia seeds which Paul planted yesterday, fingers crossed these germinate as this is the plant we first saw in Oz. Also some pots with penstemmon seedlings, the seeds were planted at the same time as all the veggie and poppy seeds but they seem to be very slow growing although healthy enough.

In the black tray at the front are some trailing verbena, nepeta and some trailing double petunias which we bought yesterday. These I've potted on today and will keep in the sun room until we're ready to plant up the big pots and urns outside.



These are Rooster potatoes which I planted two weeks ago, growing nicely through the compost so today I've earthed them up for the first time.





My all time favourite, proper wild primroses (bought from a garden centre a few years ago and brought with us to this house, not dug up from their natural habitat) and they are thriving under the camelia. It's the shadiest part of the garden so the soil doesn't dry out as much here and it seems to be the perfect place for them. These are doing better than the others which are in a drier and sunnier spot. I'm really pleased with the way these have settled down in this spot.


Last but not least the rhubarb is doing well. This is a very dry part of the garden which gets the sun all day so regular watering is a must.



I've planted some carrots, parsnips and salad leaf seeds straight into outside tubs. Our carrots last year were very successful and it's lovely to pick them fresh whenever you want them, the taste is so much better than what you get from the supermarket. I shall continue to plant more seeds every few weeks to ensure we get a continuous crop which should take us right through the winter.