I have had the loveliest, most calming and soul-soothing time in my garden this afternoon. The sun shone, the birds sang, and I quietly pottered between the greenhouse and the raised bed. As I write this, I’ve sown parsley, sunflowers, borage, winter squash and sweetpeas. It’s so delightful to have started to sow my own seeds, I’ve been dreaming of this moment for 20 years.
I bought my seeds from a company called Vital Seeds, who produce their own seeds in the UK. According to a video I watched on Huw Richard’s YouTube channel, where the owners of Vital Seeds are interviewed about their principles and business, I should be able to collect seed from these plants and grow from them again next year.
The sweetpeas are from Jazzy Rose Flowers, which is owned by Lisa Comfort, of Sew Over It fame. I followed a video on her Instagram as to how to germinate the seeds on the windowsill, before planting some today.
The sunflowers are the variety ‘Hello’ and came free with my Gardener’s World magazine. My inner child is very excited to see how tall these grow. Fingers crossed they make it over the top of the fence, then I’ll be able to see them as I park my car on the driveway.
From Vital Seeds I’ve planted:
I stole the picture above from the Vital Seeds website, but I really hope I get proper knobbly gourds in a variety of colours! I want to decorate with them in autumn, and then eat them over the winter.
Most of the plants will be going into my raised bed, which is 95% finished! You can hear all about the construction in this episode, I’ve just got to paint it now.
Building a raised bed
If you follow me over on Notes, you may have seen a spoiler of my raised bed. It’s a bit of a beast, standing at 72cm high (roughly hip height on me), I’ve built it from decking planks and 2x2” timber. The aim is to be able to grow a variety of fruit and veggies, without the dogs charging through my plants or toileting in inappropriate places (Badger to…
I’ll be writing or recording an update on the raised bed, about how I sealed it and filled it, plus my plans for what plants to grow. Here’s a spoiler picture though, of some of the plants being introduced to their new home.
For now though, thank you for joining me on this episode recorded in my greenhouse! As ever, I very much appreciate you all for reading and listening to my content and I’ll see you again in a few days.
Share this post