I wanted to see what happens if you simply squeeze tomato seeds into a pot of soil. I used some old compost and recycled pots, and a mixture of fancy heritage tomatoes for this experiment.
After a week of keeping them watered, in a sunny spot the windowsill, we have seedlings!
There are far too many for each pot, so probably only a few of these will make it, and this is not the ideal way to propagate tomatoes, but nonetheless this feels triumphant.
Here’s five more gardener’s delights to share with the Propagator’s gang for six on Saturday.
2. Mystery clematis. This wonderful clematis was planted by the front door by a previous occupant. I’m very grateful that it’s there, and it began to bloom earlier this week. I have no idea what variety it might be. The flowers are MASSIVE!
3. A yellow rose. Another plant put here long ago, which came into flower this week. It’s throughly overgrown by a straggly forsythia and at risk from a large looming bramble that I must chop back soon, but nonetheless this lovely rose is blooming away.
4. Is the view from the kitchen window. The most important view in the house, in my opinion… I’ve added pretty pots of colour to the gravel patio, and the oak bonsai that I got for my husband’s birthday a few years ago has just come into leaf. That bench looks tempting when it’s sunny, and the washing up can usually wait…
5. A copper beech? This lovely dark tree, now fully in leaf, is a key feature at the bottom of the garden. Like the laurel hedge and the the oak, it belongs to our neighbours.
The marvellous horticultural blogger Tony Tomeo asked if this is a purple beech. I don’t know, is the answer…
But in certain lights it certainly does look purple. It also looks red, black, vermillion, magenta, orange, silver and copper coloured, depending on how the light hits the leaves.
6. Finally a few pea shoots have emerged. I’m hoping they will climb up this cane and willow teepee by the potato patch, and give us tasty treats for tea.
A few seedings have finally emerged, after three attempts at seeding this spot.
Unfortunately, the cat has decided that the teepee is among her favourite snoozing spots.
So my expectations of enjoying sweet fresh peas from this project have been downgraded to ‘probably not happening.’
Still, I gave peas a chance.
This is one of those weeks where six garden things is simply not enough, so here’s a bonus couple of garden things from under the apple tree.
An oak sapling
and a geranium.
Most likely both of these plants arrived here by themselves. I’ll consider transplanting the oak to a pot this autumn and finding a more suitable spot for it to grow bigly. I’ll collect seed from the geranium and hopefully have more of these next year.
To see more garden highlights, from around the world, visit the propagator’s blog. Each week gardeners share six things on Saturday, and it’s always a pleasure to see what’s growing on.
Jen x
Doing The Plan 
Your garden looks lovely. And I’m very impressed by your sweet pea wigwam, it would be beautiful enough without the flowers. As for cats, well *sigh*, they just do their own thing and that is that!
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Thank you! Cats are fantastically indifferent to any planting plans. Wherever I’ve just sown seeds is the perfect spot for her to sunbathe!
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Lovely bean teepee, and I adore that cat that is planted under it! My kitchen window view is the carport, but that’s okay, I don’t want to stand at the kitchen sink much anyway! But, I can lay on my bed with the French door slats open and see part of the herb garden.
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I spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen, and so I love to watch the garden from the window. Our last house had a view of our neighbour’s toilet window from the kitchen sink. (it was a frosted window at least) so this is a significant improvement! 🙂
That view from your bed to the herb garden sounds delightful.
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For some reason my eye was drawn to the red thing in the pot in picture 4. It’s not like it stands out or anything. What is it please. That is copper (purple) beech by the way. Our two cats get away with some stuff but I’d be putting sprigs of blackthorn or Colletia amongst the peas for sure.
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Hi Jim, that’s a begonia, I believe it’s Begonia elatior Ceveca Inner Beauty. It was an irrestistable impulse purchase at the supermarket.
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Is there a difference between copper and purple beech? I found no information about it. To me, it looks like what I learned as a copper beech back in the 1980s. Those beech are now gone, and all that I see nowadays are purple beech and some variegated purple beech. Beech are rare here. There are a few old green beeches about, but none that have been planted since the 1980s, although, in the late 1990s, we grew a few green beech as well as a few golden beech. I have no idea where those trees went.
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What a beautiful garden! Love the pea teepee, what a great idea and the Kitty is ADORABLE! Thanks for sharing! Kindly, ~Diana
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The teepee is quite simple to make. I make a few hoops of flexible stems, and then slot them over a simple teepee made of six or seven canes tied at the top. Someone suggested adding brambly bits to dissuade kitten from sitting on the seedlings. But then I’d feel bad about disrupting her comfort, and so I’m more likely to give up on the peas, and just get them at the shop. 😉
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Awe, I would do the same but wanting to disrupt her comfort!! Your so sweet! ❤️🥰
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it will be interesting to see what you get from your tomato plants. depends on whether the variety was F1, you many not get good or tasty fruit. they might be fabulous though, that is the roll of the propagation dice. good luck!
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Thank you for that tip, I’ve put a bit about F1 hybrids into this week’s blog, and will keep you posted on what emerges from this experiment. 🙂
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