Of spuds and newt scenes

Potatoes chitting...

After yesterday's trip to the garden centre I have now got the King Edward potatoes ready for chitting. They are sitting in their egg boxes on the window ledge and will hopefully develop some nice shoots. Not sure I have enough room to accommodate all of these when it comes to planting time but I'd like to try. We had a lovely crop last year but hadn't planted that many as it was our first time but since it worked so very well, we'll get as many as possible into the ground (or I should say "grow bags").

I will also have to look into the details of when to sow the tomato seeds. I am pretty sure I read in another UK blog that they had already planted theirs into pots, so maybe it's time to get a move on and start these off as well. The variety we bought is a cherry tomato one, good for growing in baskets and pots and therefore ideal for smaller areas. Again, as it is my first time growing these, I will probably begin with just a couple of plants and see how we get on.

I am terribly excited about the new growing season! :-)

And exciting news from the pond! The frogs are not the only ones in the pond meeting up with their mates: last night 8 (!!!) newts were recovered by husband - they had only made it as far as a big puddle instead of the pond. All were rehomed swiftly and hopefully will be producing offspring in due course. They are quite shy creatures and we have only spotted them on a few occasions, so it was lovely to be able to see so many of them at once.