Sometimes when you have so many seeds waiting to be planted in March, April, and May, you are pinning for those months to come fast forward. Having put all my January seedlings in their propagators, February seemed like a long empty wait.
It is far from one.
First, the seedlings need tending. Not much, just keeping them at the right temperature, and at the right moisture level will do just fine. I tend to turn the pots as well so their stems get a good strength all around rather than just where the sun light was. Anyway that is the theory. Plants play the contortionist to grab the most sunlight, well not all but most. And here they are in the spotlights grabbing a bent stalk. I do not mind bent, but with a little manual work, I might just get that nice straight strong stalk I am after. Making sure the head of the seedlings do not reach ground level is a must to prevent their young leaves to prematurely rot away. Gently firming the earth below the stem, making little mound, all help correcting its level and direction.
Then they are the early rewards. The tomatoes seeds are going for it. From the black Indigo Rose, RHS prized, a bit expensive, the three seeds I sowed gave me three strong seedlings within a week. Within two weeks, I am very happy with their growth. To the 'Yellow Stuffer' , a beef tomato variety, yellow like it says on the packet, and big like I love them: three seeds gave three seedlings. I am looking forward to see those tomatoes and taste them as much as I do for the black ones. I planted some red 'Moneymakers' just in case I didn't have any success with my trendy ones. I grew them before with a fair success, which made them a reliant cropper in my books. Three seeds= Three seedlings, yet one wilted away in the second week: the Touching the ground thing. Just let the heads reach the sky: manual help required. A little surprise was the Artisan Bumble Mix cherry tomatoes I planted only a week ago, which I have 10 plants out of 12 sowed out of a packet which was supposed to have 9 seeds. So it is a definite winner of a packet. I have no idea how many purple, pink and sunrise cherry tomatoes I will have in that mix but I plan to grow them in my hanging baskets this summer. In my dreams, it is lush thing, cascading down, it is hot outside not like right now. My fancy cherry tomatoes are ripe, and I pick them as I water the garden just as a treat...
The Chillies are doing great: Hot Cayenne pepper, Jalapeños and the giant ones all showed up. I am expecting another glut of chillies this year, like last.
The disappointment were the Zimbabwean black chillies which just failed to show up and the Tigerella Tomatoes: out of three, one showed up which wilted soon after. Two years ago, I had been disappointed with a strong plant giving me just one tomato. I replanted some Tigerella seeds, not losing hope, yet compared to other tomatoes so far this one does not stack up for me.
Second, just take a look around the house. There were plenty of house plants screaming in their pots that they needed more space on my stroll in mine. Today was all about re-potting, re-positioning, and taking cuttings out of some to decorate some spaces in the house that lacked that bit of friendly green in their corners. I must say it is like giving a cherished plant a second lease of life. It makes you feel good. It made this Sunday afternoon very fulfilling. Sometimes you have little gems, like my African Violets that keeps on giving year after year. Yet a change of pot, let them go on from day to day, year after year, from blossoming from strength to strength. All the African violets had their overall today.
Getting a couple of cuttings from a neglected 11 years old palm tree and re-potting a cutting from it of 5 years ago, which turn out to be a lovely straight little thing, along with giving a new bigger pot to the mother plant was the most charitable thing I had to do to living plants this afternoon. I carried those plants for so long from flat to flat, that they have a sentimental value. They live alongside me and I enjoy the sight of them. They are making my home a sweet home.
One of the massive palms in the hallway died from repeated cat attacks. Today, was the time to let it go and give one of my oldest plant a new big planter. Cramped in a dark corner of the living room, I noticed it kept growing no matter what.
Putting that plant in that planter, and giving it a prime position in the house made my day. The plant came from a cheap and cheerful combo plant mix of three which I bought from less than a tenner back in the day when I was living in Romford, twelve years ago. Seeing it looking so stately by the stairs, just by a single re-potting made my Sunday special. It gave my home that instant posh uplift. Yet it only costed just watering TLC from my part all those years and a new pot today.
February = Make your Home the sweetest place for you.
I have been growing chillies for two years now..jpg)
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