Sowing for spring

This is the first time I've sowed seeds for a spring crop. Looking at the points of green peeking through in their tray on the windowsill, I felt what I can only describe as a temporal lurch. I'm so used to just sowing in the spring. Perhaps this is one of these significant steps on the way to becoming a true gardener. It feels hopeful, too, in the way that planting spring bulbs on a raw autumn day is some sort of bastion against the long Scottish winter.

I think I'm rather late though to be sowing broccoli. It just didn't seem to be possible to do it sooner, since we've had a summer of visitors (Norway, Austria twice, USA), and have been away for two separate weeks. Although we took the hamster and all her luggage with us on holiday, even I balked at a tray of seedlings added to the rich and overflowing mix that is our packing when we holiday in the UK. Our next door neighbour would normally be happy to water any plant, but as she's just had an operation I couldn't ask her. So I've delayed until now, and hope that an indian summer allows for decent growth during the autumn. Finger crossed for spring cabbage 'Wintergreen', spring greens 'Spring Hero', broccoli 'Bordeaux' and 'Claret'.