This morning has been lovely and sunny so far-it should remain so for the rest of the day. I got most of what I wanted done today, although I still have a little potting up to do. This will have to wait until the little pots I ordered this morning get delivered.

I will start with the already mentioned potting up. I potted up my tomatoes, chillies, capsicums and Brussels sprouts. If I had more pots, I would have put them in their own individual pots. As it was, I had to put four into each one. They have far more space than they did, which is the main thing. It just means that they will need potting on again before they are big enough for their final positions. I couldn’t pot up my leeks or spring onions as I didn’t have the pots available. These will be potted up as soon as I get my little pots.

I will be leaving these seedlings indoors for the time being for two reasons. The first being that the overnight temperatures are still a little cool for keeping them outside overnight. I also start work at 6.30 am, so putting them out before work is likely to still be a little cool at the moment. The second is the snails. They love anything tender, young and tasty. Until the plants are big enough to survive the damage, then I won’t be putting them outside!

While outside, I put more potting mix into my potato bags as my potatoes are growing really well-at least two varieties are. That’s the thing with gardening-some things grow really well one year, while others don’t, and you can’t always put your finger on why. I am still hoping that I see shoots for the third variety of potatoes, but I won’t get too upset if I don’t see any sign at all.

My broad beans are growing well. I still only have one plant flowering, with four on there at the moment. There are also plenty of flower buds on this plant and my other broad bean plants, which is good news. While I always want everything to happen straight away, you do need to have some patience and allow nature to do its thing when its ready-Id love lots of bean flowers right now, but I will have to wait!

I was trying to grow some peas. I haven’t mentioned them in a while. That’s because the snails have finished them off, completely! I have tried so many times to grow peas this winter, but the snails have defeated me. I have been out to check for snails frequently over the past few weeks, but I have not found a single one anywhere near my peas! I have found six or seven snails on, or near, my beans this week but none near my peas.

Back to the positives. I have a random brassica plant that wasn’t really doing anything at the end of last summer so I thought I would leave it and see what happened. It now has a couple of the smallest flower heads on it. I will again leave it for a while, see what happens, but it’s great to see some success with a brassica. I’m not completely sure what brassica it is, but I am really happy to see something happening!

Elsewhere in the garden, the beans I sowed recently are taking their time to germinate. I still only have about three that have germinated. That’s ok, as they are seeds that are a few years old. I sowed them on a whim, so if they don’t grow it’s not the end of the world. My nasturtiums are still doing really well. I’m so excited to see them all flower, hopefully over the next few months.

In the next two or three weeks, I will start to sow my other seeds that I have planned, including cucumbers, pumpkins, more tomatoes and chillies, sweetcorn, and maybe a few flowers. That will be for another time. Until then, happy gardening!