The Fruits Of My Labour...

Firstly, can I just start off today's blog by saying a huge great THANK YOU to all you gorgeous people for taking the time out to read it. I'm absolutely loving the experience and welcome all your hints and tips. I would massively appreciate it if you would take a couple of seconds to register with me by clicking either of the FOLLOW buttons, (top left of the page or in the left hand column). Thanks again. You are all officially amazing!

Right then, where was I? The sixth raised bed is finally down! The compost has been worked through and I'm ready to plant my cabbages and cucumbers. I started to think I was going a little over the top with my seedling purchases, but the way I see it, I'm going to have a go at growing as much as I can handle, and if they aren't successful then I'll hopefully learn from my mistakes next year.

Anyway, EXCITING NEWS! I'm finally starting to see proper results of all my hard work.  Myself and Nicole went out armed with watering can and water pistol the other morning, and as we were going through our usual routine, (which usually consists of Nicole firing the watering pistol at me and sniffing the plants!) she suddenly started to shout, "Mummy, Mummy, look at the tomato's" Sure enough, Nicole's tomato plant had suddenly decided to sprout a whole bunch of little green tommy's! (still not a single one on my tomato plants, but hers are practically dripping in them).  I have to say, it's possibly the most excited I've been since giving birth!

Just when I thought my day couldn't get any better, I went to see to my chili plants and noticed two absolutely beautiful green chili's hanging from one of them! I swear they weren't there yesterday. I'll be honest, I'm not sure how long I have to leave them before I can pick them. Exactly how big should I let them get? And more importantly, will they grow back ever again?! As I'm fairly new to all this, I have to admit that sometimes I forget that you can actually EAT all the stuff that's growing! I often need reminding that that's the point of the whole exercise!

Nothing makes me happier than seeing Nicole tucking in to her veggies. Our neighbours are growing peas and Nicole sits around eating them like sweets. Seriously, if you have kids and can't get them to eat their greens, get them to help you grow them. They suddenly become far more interesting. There's something about picking a pea pod off a plant, popping it open and eating them fresh that's far more fun than any bag of crisps!

Finally, our good friend Jamesy who grows tons of his own vegetables, gave me a great little tip for keeping bugs and slugs away. Dilute a tiny amount of washing up liquid with water and spray sparingly all over your plants. Not only is it a relatively inexpensive way of treating them, but it's organic too. Everyone's a winner! x