Of late we’ve been looking online at various gardening forums where there’s been many questions that go like “Can we put our tomatoes out in the back garden now?” and at times we are thinking the same, what with our lack of patience combined with the wonderful weather we’ve had recently (although it’s tipping it down here today).
You’ve got to remember it’s only April and you know anything can happen weatherwise here in the UK. We read on the Gardener’s World website here: “Tomatoes can suffer outdoors during spells of cold weather, with ideal temperatures from 18 – 24°C and no lower than 13°C” so we’re being careful and not putting most plants out until mid/end of May. They still will be left outside during warmer days and taken in at night (if we remember) to help with the “hardening off” process.
As we’ve a lot of seedlings in pots indoors we’ve put a small handful of tomatoes plants out to make a little bit of space (to put more pots in). We’re taking a big risk but it’s only a small number and they are under makeshift protection made from bubble wrap and kebab sticks, jam jars and seed tray lids up on bricks. It may not be the most glamorous of frost protection but who cares what they look like if they do the trick.
This weekend we were at a local park for their annual festival. Earlier in the morning someone mentioned in reply to the horrible weather forecast for the day that “they” could be wrong, “I mean remember 
Also Debby told us “The 
In-between the rain and sunshine yesterday, we got out into the garden and sowed some seed in the raised bed at the side with some transparent plastic tacked over the top so to create a cheap mini greenhouse. Those pallet box collars we were given a few years ago have had a good life, the polythene on the top don’t last sadly and needs replacing every year but they do work. In these “poor people’s greenhouses” we sowed some beetroot, the Lldl lettuces we purchased last year and some parsnips. Parnsips are funny anyway and need fresh seed but these seeds were bought last week so touchwood should be okay if the soil gets warm enough in there. Fingers crossed we will get some germination out there.
It’s not that far off mid-November and the garden should be getting ready for a kip until spring but you wouldn’t think so. We picked three cherry tomatoes yesterday and the couple of chillies we got off the plant below that is sadly nearing its end.
We can’t believe that it’s July next week, how time flies (pic above: self-seeded poppy down the garden yesterday). It was just the other week we were thinking if there was going to be a frost or not so we could put those leggy tomato plants out. Gardening is all about patience and just getting on with it, the waiting game so to speak but we’re not very good at that. And talking of tomatoes we’ve got our first trusses of fruit developing on some of the plants we grew from seed (below). That weekly feed of comfrey liquid must be helping as well as sideshooting and a daily water.
The chilli pepper we were given the other week has now got fruits (below) and we were told by the patron of said plant that she started it off very early in January. We’ll be bringing the pot in this winter and see if we can keep it going next year. Peppers and chillies are perennials so we’re told, as it says 
It’s funny what with our “sow the seed willy nilly and forget we even sown them” method we still get suprised when something pops up like in the case of the oregano seedlings below. Yes it is in a pot with a plant label with “Oregano” written on it as clear as day but we’re still suprised. Perhaps we should have a colour coded spreadsheet with a map of the garden so we know when we sowed something and where. We reckon that would take the fun out of it though. Happy growing and may that spot of rain we had earlier today further boost up your garden’s growth!
Also we’ve been nipping out any sideshoots on our tomatoes and read in the 
Weeds up to me knees 