Tag: seedlings

Allotment Diary: Gone to Seed

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packets of vegetable and wild flower seeds

This week, we finally got to do some proper planting on the allotment. We bought a selection of vegetable seeds, got given some allium bulbs by our neighbour and sent off for some wild flower seeds that were being given away by BBC Countryfile & Go Wild.

sweet corn kernels sown into toilet roll inners

We sowed some sweet corn kernels using toilet roll inners a few days before we went to the allotment…

sweet corn being sown into an allotment bed

…and transplanted them into a newly-laid bed when we got down there.

When we get to the allotment, the first thing we did was to have a quick inspection to see if anything looked any different. And lo & behold, a few of the sweet pea seeds we planted up a couple of weeks before had sent up little shoots – no more than a couple of centimetres tall!

sweet pea seedling

Adelle set about sowing some cornichon seeds into one of the other beds we’d prepared the week before…

cornichon seeds being sown into an allotment bed

…while Justin continued with laying paths and beds…

Justin putting tiles around an allotment bed

…and Fudge did what he does best… loaf!

He sometimes gets a bit bored which can often lead to naughtiness so we keep him occupied by giving him a big bone to gnaw on.

Fudge gnawing on a bone

We found this old wire basket on the plot so we decided to use it to keep all our tools tidy.

Wire frame where we keep our tools

We also found this snail skulking around. The first live one we’d seen up to that point. We doubt it will be the last!

snail on the allotment

The last job of the day was to clear out these two sinks we found at the back of the plot and put them into place, ready to plant up next time.

pair of old ceramic sinks on the allotment

Gimme Five! Windowsill greenhouses

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selection of 5 windowsill greenhouses

I bought some magnolia vine seeds off the internet way back in January. After soaking them overnight, potting them up and leaving them somewhere cool until now, I’m going to put them on a warm, sunny windowsill in the kitchen so they can germinate. I’m fed up of the ugly, plastic windowsill greenhouses that are so ubiquitous. I want something a bit more… pleasing on the eye.

There are a few of them out there that aren’t boring green or black, cheap-looking, moulded plastic; but you have to search long & hard. We’ve helped make that process a little bit easier with these that we’ve found.

  1. Plantini mini model planthouse kit by Another Studio: £24.95, Notonthehighstreet
  2. SOCKER Greenhouse, white: £12, IKEA
  3. Vintage glass house / terrarium: £26.03, Etsy
  4. Vintage handmade lead & glass terrarium: £68, eBay
  5. Little Gardeners – My First Mini Greenhouse: £11.99, Amazon