A Beautiful Dress and Some Beans at Last!!

I'm not sure what I'm more pleased about; my broad beans finally poking through or managing to buy an entire wedding outfit (for the four weddings I'm going to this year) in less than an hour yesterday at West Quay, Southampton!! I can show you a picture of my bean but certainly not of my outfit as it is a surprise for the Beloved Husband. Will he go mad with passion and rip it off me? I certainly hope not as it cost a fortune but he will think it is very chic although I'm sure he'll find great amusement at me teetering in four inch heels especially at the wedding in a tent.

This is my first broadie of this year - took 19 days to poke through but it finally made it and there were mounds of earth on the other modules so by the time I have a look today I'm sure there will be more. Hoorah! Mum telephoned me last night to tell me her broadies are poking up from the ground outside so there are beans here in Reading and there in the West Country!

The other exciting thing I did on Friday was sow my first hardy annuals into modules ready for planting into the ground a bit later in May. As always I am amazed at the variation in seed size and shape ranging from curly Calendula to shuttlecock-like Scabiosa and how come the seeds of two different Alyssums are so different - Oriental Nights being teeny and Gold Dust being the size of tomato seeds. Strange world!

The final exciting thing I did on Friday was order a whole batch of seeds from Sarah Raven (details and photos to come later); I just can't resist her catalogue and managed to spend £28, which seems minimal in comparison to the £285 I spent on a wedding outfit!!! As she faints......