growing

I took these pictures a week or two ago, so things are even further along now than they were then. I remember thinking last year I had to get as many things in as possible, I wanted everything to be growing now, I didn't want to plant for the next year... But now things are just appearing all by themselves without me having to do anything at all, I'm kind of liking the idea of planting for the year ahead.

So from the top we have bell peppers, then peas, then rhubarb. The pepper plant I bought from the Women's Institute country market last year for 50p. It lives on the living room windowsill, as it's really not warm enough outside here and I don't have a greenhouse. Last year we had one pepper from it. This year, I've counted about 20 flowers, and two are already growing into peppers. I'm thinking I might need to repot it soon into a bigger pot, but I have no idea whether this will kill it or not. Maybe I'll just tie it to a stake this year, and repot when it's finished growing. Any clues?

I don't think I planted peas last year - I planted broad beans but I don't think think they got enough sun, and I only got a few small pods. I also planted sweet peas, which I love, and which all died. So this year we're trying peas, and so far they're doing well - although they're still on the living room windowsill too. I'm still trying to decide where to put them - the otherwise ideal place only gets early morning sun, so they might need to go out in the front garden, which will mean they'll need canes, or stakes, or twigs or something. Hmm.

The rhubarb was donated by a friend from a huge clump on his allotment. It was one leaf and some roots stuck in a bucket of water - I cut the stem, put it with some other rhubarb we'd been given, and made some jam, which was extremely nice. The roots I shoved in the ground, and hoped for the best. And here they are, growing, all by themselves! Magic.

I'm feeling a little behind with the garden this year, looking back at old blog posts from this time last year we were already eating spinach and chard - I've got neither even in the ground yet this year, and it might already be too late. I think all that snow put me off a bit! But I had a bit of seed planting session last weekend, and we're now eagerly awaiting the first shoots of lettuce, rocket, pumpkins, cabbage, green courgettes, yellow knobbly courgettes, walking stick kale, spinach, rainbow chard, lavender, sweet peas and poppies. Can't wait!