As well as the ornamental plants that decorate our garden, we also have space set aside for food crops. There is not enough room for true self-sufficiency (just a tiny bit of being selfsufficient-ish) but it does allow us to enjoy some of our food absolutely fresh and undoubtedly organic.

By preference, we grow our food plants from seed. The problem (and fascination) is that seeds and seedlings are such tiny, delicate things. Neglect them for a few days or expose them to conditions that are too harsh and the whole lot can die.

With last week away on holiday, we put off getting any seeds started. Now we are back and beginning to grow things. First off are my tomatoes and Jane’s peas. I started my tomatoes on Sunday evening in reused plastic trays on small squares of kitchen towel and this morning I noticed that the seeds are just beginning to sprout.

It is good to have begun but we have a lot more to do – thousands of seeds collected over the last few years. Many are officially out of date and I suspect that our germination rates will be low but that really doesn’t matter; 2007 is a year for us to clear out old stocks and I am sure we will end up with more sprouting than we have room to plant and plenty that can be used to provide delicate leaves for salads as well as being left to become more mature plants.

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