The time has flown by. I guess I’m getting used to the fact that a lot of patience is required when growing your own fruits and vegetables as it does not happen overnight. I’m looking forward to summer now. It seems to have rained pretty much every day here in the UK since the start of the year. Not ideal weather for growing things! However, without the heated propagator I bought I don’t think sowing my seeds would have been successful. Some nights when the heating turns off it can get cold in the conservatory, not the ideal environment for when you are sowing seeds.

Progress of sowing seeds

So, what’s been happening? How have my seeds got on? Well… as you may remember from one of my last posts, I sowed some onion seeds. Unfortunately, these did not make it. I’m not sure where I went wrong either. They sprouted but just didn’t have any strength and were all floppy and weak (leggy I believe is the correct term). Although I’m not out of time yet and think I can still have another go at them before it’s too late.

Now… onto the chillis and pepper. I’m so happy with how they have turned out! Almost every seed I sowed has turned into a strong, healthy seedling. They have all grown a set of true leaves so are now ready to be planted into their own, bigger pots (still small, but they will have more space to grow their roots than they do currently), that’s why I thought I would give you all an update.

There is this variety of red pepper I like buying from the supermarket, but they seem to be rather expensive coming in at an average price of 75p – 80p per pepper. It might not sound like a lot but, if you’re making a meal using them, it soon adds up! So, I decided to remove the seeds of one, I dried them out over a couple of nights, sowed them into a propagator tray and I now have 10 healthy looking seedlings so I can just grow my own. I love this gardening stuff, its brilliant.

the next post, will be me showing you what to do with your seeds once they have grown a second set of leaves, how you move them into bigger pots and what to do to keep them healthy. Happy growing everybody!