2011 highlights

So... whilst the blog didn't get written in 2011 we did try our hardest to keep the windowsill alive and kicking. Here's a few picture highlights from the year - more stories to come over the coming weeks...

Cheese, pickle and winter leaves

Our winter leaves were getting a bit on the large side so I decided to chop them down today and shove them in a sandwich. After I'd cut them all down I suddenly realised that they're probably supposed to be "cut and come again" so I should have just chopped off a few leaves from each plant and left them growing (is that the idea with cut and come again salad leaves??) however unfortunately by then it was too late and the deed was done! But what a fabulous sandwich it was - brown seedy bread, pickle from Fortnum and Mason's (a Christmas present), mature cheddar all topped off with a big pile of windowsill grown winter leaves.



As I felt a bit guilty for having pulled up all of the little plants I then went on a planting extravaganza. So I've now liberally scattered more seeds for the mixed winter leaves throughout the front of the trough they came out of (there's the line of slightly worse for wear looking spring onions along the back of the trough), on the soil around the three garlic plants which are looking really healthy and in the other round pot that had a serrano chilli in it last year. In the remaining trough that didn't have anything in it I've scattered Cos lettuce seeds - it said on the pack that they should be started out in seed trays but I had absolutely no luck with the salads I tried to grow in seed trays last year so I decided to sow them straight outside and see whether they germinate or not.

All in all an eventful day's action out on the windowsill!

New Year, New Post

Well I haven't blogged in a long while and things on the windowsill have been moving pretty slowly but we do have movement and the leaves, spring onions and garlic that I planted back in November are all plodding away nicely. The growth rate is considerably slower than it was for the plants that were out in the windowboxes over the summer but for such little plants they do seem to have coped remarkably well with all of the snow they've been bombarded with!

Here's the first pictures of how the windowsill is doing in 2011...


Our three garlic bulbs have all sprouted...



...our spring onions have sprung...



...and our winter leaves are looking strong (although I'm not sure we've got enough for a salad!!)

Out with the old and in with the new!

Well over the weekend I took the opportunity to do some tidying up and armed with all of your suggestions from the other week headed off to the garden centre in search of some winter windowsill produce. I managed to get hold of some garlic, winter salad leaves, sping onions and cos lettuces which all said that they were ok to be planted at this time of year and I also picked up some cress and mustard too to keep me busy.

When I got back I spent some time pottering around and cleared out one of the windowsills where all of the former tomato plants were dead (I have left a little clump of oregano which was clinging on for dear life in the hope that it is going to revive itself) and in their place I have planted a row of the winter leaves and a row of the spring onions. It didn't mention anything on the label about starting them off inside so I have just planted them straight into the windowbox outside (not sure if this was a good idea or not!?!). Then I also removed the chilli plant which had only produced one short fat chilli and have planted three cloves of garlic in its place. Am looking forward to seeing whether anything sprouts or not!



I've left the other two windowboxes for the time being - one of them is still bursting with chillies and to keep them fresh I don't want to be picking them until we need them and the other one has lots of tomatoes that are a yellowish colour at the moment so I'm clinging on in the vain hope that they might turn red for me some day soon. I've also left the pot of mint in place and tidied it up removing all of the dead stalks and it's sprung back to life amazingly!