ready, steady, go!

I've spent the last month fiddle faddling about because of the unusually cold spring we've been having - now suddenly the weather has turned and I'm trying to do everything at once to catch up.  Outside in the veg beds I've been planting potatoes, making seed beds (mmm tilth!), and sowing peas and beans. The little greenhouse that I use isn't heated, so I usually start my tender stuff off in trays and modules on a window ledge.  Doesn't matter how many times I do it, I always get a kick out of sowing seed, then watching and waiting for it to germinate.  It's such a hopeful thing to do - there's some special kind of alchemy...

a handful of seed

a misty propagator lid on a sunny window ledge

and a little patience

et voila!

First out of the traps this year is this pot marigold - not at all tender or in need of such special treatment, but I'll be growing them on in modules for my lovely friend Sian to use for her bee activity in May.  The seed for these really does look like something you might have swept up off the bathroom floor after a pedicure session - but a bit of water and warmth is all they need to spring into life.  Magic!