Being impatient, I couldn't wait until these guys had more mature leaves before planting them out! The cucumber seedlings are going up the back of the eggplant and capsicum plantings. The cucumber are spaced about 30 cm apart, and are going to climb up the chicken wire fence. This is great, as it will cover the fairly unattractive wire, save ground space and keep the cucumber fruit off the ground and prevent them from rotting. It should also make the cucumbers easier to spot for harvesting.

I grew the cucumber seedlings in the same way I did the zucchini- in peat pots that can be planted whole into the ground. This makes it so easy to get a head start on germinating the seeds, and allows you to plant them out without disturbing the plants. The eggplant and capsicum were grown in punnets in the greenhouse. A couple of the capsicum seedlings had leaves that mysteriously disappeared. I moved the trays onto our back deck and went to inspect them one night- it was a baby slug. He was chopsticked off and thrown in the bushes- hopefully never to return.

The capsicum and eggplant are being spaced out as much as possible. Last year I had pretty rubbish crop of capsicum, and I am keen to improve them this year. I think I planted them too closely together last year, and I think I watered them too inconsistently, and potentially didn't feed them enough. I ended up with really small fruit, and towards the end of the season a few of them got blossom end rot (gross). So fingers crossed things go better this year!