After the wettest April in 100 years, and the coldest in 23, May was not much better either, until 10 days ago. Then, temperatures suddenly jumped to the upper twenties, and the clouds vanished - and all the plants suddenly burst into life again!

More sowing!

Spring has most definitely sprung, as evinced by the cheerful yellow daffodils and scented pink hyacinths in the front garden. Unfortunately, they are poking through last year's weeds so I haven't taken a picture! I foresee a busy weekend...

Not just with weeding and pruning the front garden, but finally planting the first of my square foot garden. My wonderful SO has made the frame from untreated timber, and we filled it with a mixture of bought potting compost, vermiculite, garden soil, and our own black gold - the garden compost. Look how rich and dark it was, under a layer of still non-decayed garden and kitchen waste. We removed the top layer, used the well-rotted compost to fill the square foot bed, then put back the rough stuff and mixed it with even more peelings, grass trimmings and such.

I have also sowed two more batches of seeds, mostly a variety of herbs (2 types of basil, hyssop, borage and winter savoury) and some bright annual flowers (zinnia). It is still early to sow warm-loving plants such as French beans and courgettes, but more resistant veg such as radishes and carrots can be sown directly into the soil of the new bed. Something else to look forward to, this weekend!

Square foot bed:

Compost:

New Season

Happy New Growing Year, everybody!

Today, I sowed the first seeds of 2012.

Chillies Serrano, small (3-5cm) and hot

Chillies Anaheim, milder and up to 20cm long

Tomato San Marzano, plum cooking variety

Finally, a highly scented Sweet Pea Beaujolais

The above pictures were all Google image searches; fingers crossed that the seeds I sowed today will result in similar (or better) yields!