Garden: Sweet Peas Update

Just a quick gardening update today. If you were reading my posts back in March you will have seen that I'd grown some sweet peas from seeds and I put them out in a few pots at the end of the month.
Well, with all the warm weather we've been having recently they have had a bit of a growth spurt! See the difference for yourself here. 

When I first planted the seedlings out I didn't have any long bamboo canes handy, so had to make do with some little ones that were lying around. Luckily, the other day we were on a hunt for a chimney-type barbecue with Arjan's mum, so we were going around some garden stores and I managed to pick up some canes along the way.
This is all a bit of an experiment for me and I've done what I can with what I've got. I haven't yet been tying the vines to the canes but they have been wrapping a few little tendrils around already. If you look closely on the 'after' picture you can see that I've made some additional climbing frame on the left pot out of string that is tied around the top of the canes and then pegged into the ground. I'm thinking of making more string supports by tying horizontal loops around the canes like steps of a ladder, but that's for a later date.

Before

After 

 Next up on gardening: natural aphid repellants and if they work! I know, sounds gripping!

Garden: Sweet Peas

I've always had an interest in gardening, since I was young I've loved flowers and watching things grow. Last year, in mine and Arjan's old flat, I decided to get some potted herbs for our kitchen windowsill, basil and chive were my favourites. I then got a small window box and planted a lobelia at one end and some radish seeds at the other, along with a sweet pepper plant that never really did much.
When we talked about moving to the Netherlands I started dreaming of finding a place with a small garden or outdoor space that I could grow my own vegetables in.
Now that we're still living with Arjan's parents I didn't want to miss out entirely on the growing season, so I bought a little packet of sweet peas and a seed tray and got planting!

They have done beautifully until now with only a small number of the seeds not sprouting. Arjan and I have come back to York for the next two weeks to house/brother sit whilst my parents are in America with my sister, so before we left I knew I would have to get the seedlings into something a little bigger.
Sadly I couldn't find any taller bamboo canes and Oma had just given her's to her brother-in-law for his beans, so these smaller ones will have to be a temporary solution for them until we get back.
Right now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that nothing disastrous happens while I'm away!

My Brighton windowsill garden 

The seedlings in their tray

Their new pots 

I'm still dreaming of that little garden, but for now these will do just fine and hopefully in a couple of months we will have beautiful, sweet-smelling flowers in abundance!