Success

I finally got a new camera! This is relevant precisely because my blog mostly lacks pictures, as my original edition iPhone (coming up to its third birthday) simply can't do closeups. I've had my eye on second hand DSLRs coming up for sale on eBay, and a last I one one. Incidentally, for the lowest price this model has gone for (a shade over a hundred pounds - the last one went for £170!). I am totally made up, and hopefully I'll be able to post loving closeups of recipes and seedlings come next week.

Meanwhile, a few horticultural successes. My spring cabbages, 'Baccalan de Rennes', sown one per module, have started coming up after just a few days. I've got lots of healthy beets, Californian poppies, castor beans, and this morning I spotted signs of life from another tomato variety, 'Black Cherry'.

And a few - well, I won't call them failures yet, as they may still come up - not-yet-successes. Nicotiana need light and heat to germinate, apparently, and I can only provide both when it's sunny (today it was not - the windowsill hit a maximum of just 17.8ºC); the bananas (Musa sikkimensis and M. velutina), never the fastest or most reliable seeds, are still dormant; melon 'Charentais', and several tomatoes simply haven't had enough time yet. I'm hopeful, and still buoyed up by the other plants - the nasturtiums and Cosmos are particularly developed now.

And I may as well finish on tomatoes: I'm up to around 80 pots (including one yoghurt pot), containing a total of just under 190 plants. I will hopefully not need to pot any more up for a few days, by which time my greenhouse should be capable of housing some of the marginally hardier baby plants, freeing up more space on the usually-warm windowsill.