Vegetables - the early days

I have had some spinach plugs sitting outside for a couple of weeks now. I think the deal with these guys is that you plant them straightaway, but that was not to be. I've been procrastinating a while, partly as I'd planned to build a wooden planter for them (last weeks weather thwarted me). I took one look at their squished little faces this afternoon and realised that today should be the day. The sooner they're potted up the sooner we can eat them! They are now happily stretching their legs...

I hope they have enough space in there. One of the things about growing veg in pots is that if you were to follow the spacing advice, well, you'd just have 12 pots of spinach and not much else. And tasty though it is, that'd make for a fairly monochromatic scheme... My mum reckoned I could squeeze a few into this pot, especially if I cut leaves before they're huge. Which is when they're nicest. A win-win spinach situation!

On the other side of the window, there's been some serious excitement in the tomato department. Serious. Two (two!) seeds have sprouted.

Out of a possible fifteen, but I have hope. Those two Toms might just be quick off the mark. The seeds are out of date (does that really matter?) and I've rarely grown much from seed so didn't quite trust the magic to happen. But it has. (YAY!!) The packet suggested a propagator but it seems my little-pots-in-a-big-tray-with-clingfilm version has done the job. Fingers crossed the other seed siblings will crawl their way to the surface and a fruity life.

I've got some rocket seeds to plant up too. The excitement of the tomato babies has definitely inspired me to plant more seeds. Also, it would obviously be amazing to have a greenhouse, but I kind of like having my version on the living room table - I get to see it all happen, clock the changes, and (crucially!) it prompts me to remember to look after them...

In other news, I had a visit from Monsieur Nutkins the other day. Balcony gardening renders me exempt from lots of wildlife damage (slugs are thankfully rare) but its nice to have visitors sometimes. I'm growing flowers for the bees (the poor bees!) and I might get a bird feeder. Nutkins hasn't wreaked any destruction yet, so he's fine by me.

Hello my bushy tailed friend. Don't you go nibbling my veggies!