Getting ready for the main seed sowing

I've put up the shelf on the kitchen window sill today which almost doubles the amount of space I have to start off my seeds indoors. This is the third year in a row I've used this method and it works well for me. On the far left of the photo you can see Chilli Thai Hot which has been flowering non-stop since last summer. I've also managed to over-winter my yellow Chilli (variety unknown). I cut it back to about 15cm a few weeks ago and it already has new leaves and a couple of flower buds forming. It's in the black pot top right. So that's two varieties of Chillies I don't need to sow this year.

Yesterday I spent a while putting up new horizontal wires to support my Passifloras across the bottom of the garden by the shed. I already grow Caerulea and Constance Elliot (both were from seed) and this year I'm adding Edulis in the hope of some tasty fruits next year.

On the wildlife front there are a few bees around enjoying my Narcissus and I saw a huge queen bee today. The ants are busy marching up and down between the pots on the patio so I'll have to keep my eye on them in case they get any ideas about nesting in the pots or worse, farming aphids. I gave all the bird feeders a good wash and filled them up with nuts, seeds and fat balls. This is the first time I've put food out since last summer when I had a rat living under the shed and I spotted him scaling the feeding pole and helping himself to the bird food! Anyway starved of his food supply he must have gone elsewhere and been poisoned because we found him half dead on the patio a while later: the OH had to finish him off. I blocked up the hole under the shed and it hasn't been reopened so I'm hoping none of his friends and relations take up residence this year. I don't keep the bird food in the shed now unless it's in old biscuit tins. I've learnt my lesson.

Yesterday I potted up my Ilex Crenata Fastigiata into a half barrel. This was quite a task as it has put on a lot of growth in the year I've had it and is about 5 foot tall. Thank goodness it isn't one of the prickly Hollies! Then I potted up three strawberries into slightly larger pots with some slow release organic feed and top dressed with polished river pebbles. These will keep the weeds off, add weight, reduce water evaporation and stop the compost splashing the fruits. I also potted on one of my ferns (Dryopteris erthrosora) which had been slightly damaged by last month's heavy snowfall and top dressed my three Lychnis Arkwrightii Vesuvius with a few centimetres of fresh compost and sprinkling of organic feed.

Georgie