Hurry up and slow down!

Those that know me might suggest that I’m a bit of Type A personality or JFDI if you prefer. Personally, I just like to get on with things…

With that in mind, April always feels like it is the hurry up month. Seeds are sown, they get cossetted and fussed over and then…nothing. Or so it seems. Then I’m rewarded with the first signs of tiny green shoots peeking through the soil. It doesn’t matter that I’ve been sowing seeds on an annual basis for nine years now, it is still REALLY exciting and satisfying.

Then along comes May and BAM! everything seems to rocket out of their seed trays at the same time, demanding to be potted on, hardened off and planted out…

This is my seedling status: The April and May versions.

Lets start with the Carmen cucumbers. Tiny fruits only two weeks after potting into their final pots.

grafted cucumber carmen

carmen cucumber

Then the flowers. Cosmos, Zinnias, Scabious and rescue geraniums in April

seedlings 2

seedlings

and now (the beans are still thinking about it though)

cosmos

zinnia

rescue geraniums

Here are the beetroot and lettuce after a second sowing and a stern talking to – five days to get to this stage.

beetroot

lettuce

Take a look at this. Both dahlia tubers were potted on at the same time, kept in the same conditions, side by side. Mr Edison clearly needs a motivational chat!

dahlias

And finally, whilst on the topic of the vagaries of Mother Nature, here are the compost bin tomatoes. Every year, after emptying and spreading compost up shoots a couple of tomato seedlings. I usually weed them out along with everything else the pops up uninvited – it’s all green manure! This year I’ve decided to see what happens and what type they are. So here they are potted up and already outside; I do wonder if the other seedlings need quite so much cossetting…

compost tomatoes

How are your seedlings coming on?

2 thoughts on “Hurry up and slow down!”

melisnorth says:

May 4, 2015 at 7:57 am

I absolutely know how you feel, maybe it’s also because April was very dry that things seemed to take their time. In the last few days in May my garden has exploded! Can’t believe how many things are starting to flower or shoot up now. I feel so jealous, my cucumbers are way behind yours. I’m busy hardening off all of my cut flowers at the moment (it’s thankfully very mild down in the SW) because we’re off on holiday next week and I couldn’t find any volunteers to manage the mini greenhouse. I figure once in the ground they will handle a little neglect and might have to pick up some spare plants from plant sales if I suffer any greenhouse losses.

1. plot34 says:
  
  May 4, 2015 at 8:32 pm
  
  Enjoy your holiday. That’s the thing with allotments and greenhouses – they need constant attention. I cancelled leave during April and May in our house! Have a fun time.