Windowsill Update - Part 4

It's been a few days since I last posted an update about the plants I have growing on my windowsill.

I am pleased to say that after my first poor impressions, the home-made light reflector is working well and I no longer have plants stretching towards the window in search of light, they are all now growing relatively straight.

Rampant Borlotti

The borlotti beans are still growing well, and have now reached the dizzy height of 36 inches! 

They are starting to intertwine so I need to get a bed prepared and get them planted out at the allotmant as soon as I can.

Oregon Sugar Pod

The mange tout are also still growing well, although nowhere near as good as the borlotti, and have shoots up to 13 inches long.  These have now stopped growing upwards but have started to creep in search of something to climb up for support.  Again, these will need planting out soon.

Radish

The radish that I thinned out and transplanted look to be doing well (on the right in the picture), as do the seedlings left behind.

Several are starting to get their first true leaves and the base of the stem is turning the pinky radish colour you expect to see.

This is the most successful plant in terms of germination, with a count of 17 out of 18.

The seeds were sown on the 25th of June, so these plants are now 18 days old.  I was hoping to be able to pick them after 3 weeks, but I shall have to be more patient I guess.

Chilli 'Anaheim'

The two chillis are being slow to grow, but the seedlings are looking strong. 

Still no sign of the third, nor of the pumpkin I planted as insurance against the one in the blow away not germinating (which is actually doing great).

Tomato 'Sweet Baby'

Also going strong are the two seedlings of tomato 'Sweet Baby'.

Both now have true leaves, but I am going to wait until they both have a second set before pricking them out into separate pots to grow on.

I think I will leave these inside along with the chillis to get the best chance of a crop from them this year.

Spinach 'Matador'

My experiment with re-using the module and water retaining gel that the Aldi plug plants came in is looking good - of the 30 spinach 'Matador' seeds sown into 15 cells I now have 25 seedlings, and each cell has at least one plant.


With there being so little compost in each plug I have found that it dries out incredibly quickly, so I have had to resort to gentle watering which I was going to try and avoid to see if the gel would be sufficient.

Roots in the gel

Having said that, the cells where the roots have managed to get into the gel are doing really well.

Some of the plants have pushed themselved up and out of the compost causing them to flop about and lie on the top rather than rooting in well. 

Overall I am pleased with the results of my experiment so far.