Vegetable and flower seedlings emerging

1nasturtiums emergingIt makes the daily trudge up to the potting shed worthwhile. I love it when the little seeds germinate.

I took a photograph of the nasturtiums a few days ago, and now today;  already they have their true leaves and wouldn’t look out of place on a plate with toast, thinly sliced tomato and a topping of nasturtium.

My dad used to make these on weekends when we were young. And boy does he love the peppery blast of the nasturtium leaf.  I think I prefer the flowers on my plate.

They are a brilliant addition to the potager beds: they bring in pollinati1kailaan emergingng insects, scramble about the beds and flower all summer,  and hide some of the weedier sins. (Below you can see Empress of India fighting for space among the dwarf French beans.)

I let a lot of the nasturtiums go to seed and pod last year; I had promised I would collect the little pods and pickle them to make an alternative to capers.

1saladBut I forgot. Or kept finding other things to do and never get round to them. I bet they are still all over the beds in the potager. I wonder if they will germinate without my intervention?

As a bit of contingency, I’m sowing more here indoors.

And here are the first brassica seeds up. Kailaan; winning the first to germinate prize.  And not squashed by Artur as he hasn’t worked out how to lounge on the plastic lids yet.  Give him time.