Patience is a virtue

For those that know me, they could tell you that I am not the most patient person in the world. It is a wonder then that I have taken to growing my own vegetables so readily as patience is definitely needed here!

Last year I didn't start growing things until late in the summer when I think it was warm enough for things to germinate and grow so easily it was all a doddle. I also grew lots of very quick growing crops such as lettuce and french beans.

This year with the addition of peas, broad beans, onions, garlic and lots more I am finding that many of these grow tantalisingly slow. Initially they are quite pleasing as they sprout their first shoots and put on some good growth quite quickly, but then it all slows down! My broad beans seem to be taking forever to grow higher and higher. The flowers came and I got really excited thinking that the beginning of pods would be soon behind (as with french beans), but nope, no sign yet. My peas have grown steadily and are now about 2 and a half feet high, yet are still just all leaves and no inklings of a pod in sight. I *think* I have the beginnings of baby strawberries - we will soon see, maybe its time to start giving them a good feed.

New sowings also seem to be taking an age to germinate and I am not sure why, I am doing nothing differently to usual. Although I did notice a few radishes and marigold seeds popped up last night, oh and one of my courgettes looks like it is about to poke through. My last of the ten seeds of spring onions I sowed also popped up out of nowhere, a full week behind its siblings! So, the vegetables are testing my patience right now, I don't ask for much, just a little show of the vegetables to come that's all.

At least the potatoes seems to be growing stupidly fast, no more earthing up to do in one sack so now its just wait for the flowers to appear before I can harvest them at last!

I am away for a few days now and trying to come up with the best way of making sure my plants do not suffer too much without my tender loving care. I think the tomatoes and chillies will be off to the bath to sit on a nice wet towel for a few nights whilst any pots still waiting to germinate will have a water and stay on the sunny windowsills. I can't imagine they would get too damaged being there for a few nights without supervision. I will give all of my plants outdoors a good water before leaving, luckily we are not due the hot sunny weather we have had lately as everything would have dried out in a day.

Fingers crossed, let's hope I don't come home to a disaster.