Since March, my kitchen windowsill has been a production line of seeds to plantlets before they got moved out to the green house.
I've enjoyed seeing them sprout up, although I haven't enjoyed so much the moving them to a bigger pot - I haven't quite got the hang of that.But today, imagine my horror when I did my daily check of the windowsill:
Green fly out side are horrible, but in your kitchen, they're disgusting! And there were LOADS of them! This leaf was like a play group, with mummies and babies hanging out, just growing up together!
Green fly out side are horrible, but in your kitchen, they're disgusting! And there were LOADS of them! This leaf was like a play group, with mummies and babies hanging out, just growing up together!I have to say, this parenting for plants is really starting to grate on me. I have enough trying to keep the kids nit-free without having to delouse the plants as well.
And I'm not interested in organic gardening - greenfly are gross so I reached straight for the bug spray! It did feel a bit weird - it didn't take long for that green fly nursery to be belly up on the windowsill! I know that is the aim, but it did feel a bit brutal.
This week I've been feeling the pressure of watering. Now the plants are all getting bigger, they're taking a lot more watering. Some days I go out and realise that I haven't watered for a few days and the tomatoes are looking all pathetic and droopy! They look a bit like Leah looks when tell her its bed time...
Right now they're looking bushy and green and flowery and happy. Maybe a bit too bushy - I think I might have squashed too many plants in! I must go and check all those little bits you're supposed to nip out to stop bushiness have been nipped out! But the next time I look (which admittedly might not be for a few days!), they might look withered and gray.
And I tell the tomatoes to stop complaining - it doesn't matter how pathetic they look, I will water them when I'm ready! I used to feel guilt, but I'm passed that now - its more like resent (I'm talking about the tomatoes now, not Leah).
I think I'll have to involve Liam more in their parenting. When we decided to plant in the spring, he was all "I'll help with the watering, that's easy! I'll enjoy that." But now they're growing and needy and demanding, have I ever seen him out there with the hose pipe?
Potatotes, on the other hand...I love potatoes! 
They're independent! They're in the ground and I just give them a quick spray with the hose every now and then. They just get on with it without asking for much. My kind of vegetables. They had humble beginnings - we didn't eat the whole bag of potatoes one week and they sprouted in the cupboard - not unusual in this house! And I dug them into the ground...thats it! I love low maintainance potatoes!
They're independent! They're in the ground and I just give them a quick spray with the hose every now and then. They just get on with it without asking for much. My kind of vegetables. They had humble beginnings - we didn't eat the whole bag of potatoes one week and they sprouted in the cupboard - not unusual in this house! And I dug them into the ground...thats it! I love low maintainance potatoes! And finally my herbs - the basil was a bit droopy one day, but generally they like their pots and are growing nicely...or so I thought!
When I checked the basil after my green fly discovery, I noticed that something had been eating the basil all up too - and worse - goldilocks was still there!
If you click on the picture to make it bigger, you'll see the bug was all spotty. And here's my final issue with plant parenting. In our house, generally we love wildlife and as we don't have that many animals in our garden, we like looking for bugs. 
We catch them in a viewing pot with a magnifying glass and look them up in the book mum gave us. Its probably our most used book. So what do I do when a speckled bush cricket is eating my basil? Do I feel pleased that we're encouraging wildlife into the garden? You don't find them in the north you know - my book says so! Or do feel offended that its eating my babies, raised from seed and get my bug spray out? Well thats what I did - I felt pressured to protect my plants and I sprayed! It didn't seem to have the same instant affect as it did on the green fly! And I didn't have the heart to flick it off! I think if it can survive poisoning, it deserves the basil more than we do.
If you click on the picture to make it bigger, you'll see the bug was all spotty. And here's my final issue with plant parenting. In our house, generally we love wildlife and as we don't have that many animals in our garden, we like looking for bugs. 
We catch them in a viewing pot with a magnifying glass and look them up in the book mum gave us. Its probably our most used book. So what do I do when a speckled bush cricket is eating my basil? Do I feel pleased that we're encouraging wildlife into the garden? You don't find them in the north you know - my book says so! Or do feel offended that its eating my babies, raised from seed and get my bug spray out? Well thats what I did - I felt pressured to protect my plants and I sprayed! It didn't seem to have the same instant affect as it did on the green fly! And I didn't have the heart to flick it off! I think if it can survive poisoning, it deserves the basil more than we do.Actually, with all the spray I sprayed, I don't think the basil will be fit for our food anyway!
I'm hoping when the tomatoes start producing fruit I'll feel more affection for them.
I promise I am talking about my tomatoes and not my children!
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