Cutting the cord

Tonight, after weeks of living alongside us and being tended, nourished and generally pampered, the tomato, chilli and cucumber plants have moved into the greenhouse. It was a big moment, and they all seem to be settling in well, having been thoroughly watered. In some ways, it is a positive thing, as they had already outgrown the patio doors and were in danger of taking over the guest bedroom. After a conference call with our personal gardening adviser last night, and the fact that Ed was coming this weekend and needed the guest bedroom, the decision was made that they needed to go in. We can now have guests again (although they still can't use the en suite). We can also open the windows in the guest bedroom without significant debate as to the impact it will have on the kids. 

Photos of the experience are to follow. There are a couple of the hilarious journey to the allotment, during which I felt I was in a bit of a rainforest, with 4 leafy plants on my lap and a very large cucumber between my feet. Si was unable to change lanes to the left, as he was unable to see who may be lurking in that direction. Then there are some of the greenhouse. It is serving its purpose exceedingly well, as it is very warm inside, but we have left the doors weighed down, but slightly open at the bottom in order to improve ventilation to try and combat grey mould (get me and my terminology!). 

We are considering another visit to the allotment tomorrow, to see how they fared their first night, but are debating whether or not this could be considered excessive. We will be going on Sunday (with visitors) but I think concern and curiosity may get the better of us. 

There were other developments tonight. We planted some new flowers, which are slightly over the Simon-imposed height restriction, but he won't find that out until they have grown. We set off a new set of leafy salad seedlings as our others are doing so well, and returned to find our basil is developing nicely. It looks like the radishes are actually developing into something which looks like a vegetable, rather than the mass of leaves they have been so far. The lettuces are almost outgrowing their cloche, and the potatoes are rapidly outgrowing the piles of soil we use to cover them (to prevent burn). It looks like we may have to be visiting every day for the next few weeks to support everybody through this challenging time (Simon and myself included - there are a lot of supportive high fives and whoops on the allotment).

It's an interesting thought that we first moved into this flat in the hope that the second bedroom/en suite would be filled regularly with friends and family, but that they are now playing second fiddle to chillis. Ah, well!

Cheers, here's to the radishes!   

B x