In the garden: the start

The weather is changing again: less cold, but still some frost at night. In the greenhouse, you can already see the difference. There is a lovely smell of plants that start growing again. And the new seeds of peppers in my Vitopod are doing well. For the first time this winter, I have been heating my greenhouse, just to 5°C, enough to help precious plants such as my Tibouchina and my lemon tree (Citrus x limon 'Meyer') to survive. In addition, I used it for my Pelargoniums and Fuchsia's and so far all went reasonably well, even though the Pelargonums at some stage were covered with some mildew. In order to isolate the greenhouse, I covered it inside with bubble plastic, easy to use and reusable next year. 

I moved the Vitopod in early January to the greenhouse and heated the soil to some 25°C, warm enough for all kinds of chili peppers and sweet peppers. In the years before, I kept it in the living room, but due to the lack of light, the plants grew fast and tall, but not always as strong as they should. This year, the growth is considerable slower, but the plants look stronger as well. 

Cauliflower

early, but growing well. The big problem will be to avoid slugs and snails when growing outside.

Broadbeans

Growing broadbeans, this year with an early start.

Tibouchina

This plant survived the winter and started growing again. Let's see how it will recover from the loss if most of its leaves. Normally, Tibouchina needs a winter temperature of some 10°C. 

Citrus x meyeri

Survived at 5°C and with only a little bit of additional water.

Pelargoniums

This was a difficult one: A lot of them outside lost all their leaves due to mildew - I am afraid that they died. Inside my house, even with little water, they survived much better.