The weather has been horribly and persistently cold over the last week, with many days struggling to get above freezing during daylight hours too ❄️
Beautiful, frosty, sunny days but the poor little autumn sown seedlings in the greenhouse have need extra support (I know how they feel!) 🌱
I've been fleecing them every night and at times during the day too. I also used the lit candle, terracotta pot hack over night to raise the temperature slightly in the greenhouse....however with the temperatures down to -7 on one night I think I've lost the last of the scabious sadly.
But luckily as they can be sown again in the spring all is not lost! 🙌🏼
So although gardening outside with the ground completely frozen has been a non starter we have been busy inside.
The grow tent we bought from eBay last year is back up again (we couldn't remember how to put it up so a couple of hours were spent struggling and cursing before we worked it out....we really should have filmed it 😂)
It made all the difference to our ability to sow and grow things last year during the months of Jan-April. Chillies, salad, herbs and flower seeds were all started off earlier than normal plus it doubles up as a lovely place of light and warmth on a bleak winters day! ☀️
The tent is 3m x 2m and the chillies are all safety ensconced inside and are looking very happy alongside newly sown basil and mixed salad.
We have 35+ varieties of chillies sown now and it's exciting to visit them and to see growth almost happening before our eyes.
We've been starting the chillies off in rock wool (see previous blogs about this) but as they get their first true leaves they are being potted on into Bio Bizz light potting soil which is an organic low nutrient growing media which is perfect for young plants 🌱
We have 3 grow-lights in the tent. 2 SPYDER FARMERS and 1 MARSHYDRO. We have them on a timer so that most of the usage is at night when the electricity is cheaper.
The cobaea is growing like crazy! If it carries on at the rate I'm really not sure how I'm going to keep it going over the next few months before it can go outside 🤷♀️
This week also saw the launch of a new box of seeds 🌸
Flowers to Grow | Perfect for Pressing is a box of 10 flower seeds all perfect to sow, grow, cut and press.
I've been so inspired by seeing other peoples pressed flower art work that I sought out one such amazing artist and asked her opinion as to which flowers are the best to press.
With her advice I created this new box of seeds and (along with two different sized flower presses now available on the website) I think they make the most gorgeous present 🎁
Truly the gift that keeps on giving.....for months if not years!
Wising you all a happy (and hopefully warmer) week ahead,
Melanie 🐞