The First Seedlings Are Up

Yesterday morning I spotted the first of the cauliflower seedlings and by the end of the day all of them had poked up their heads. With some room in the propagator I sowed some aubergine (Calliope) seeds and a few more cauliflower.
Today one of the cabbages made an appearance - the rest hopefully won't be long. I am starting them off in a seed tray to give them a fighting chance against the hungry slugs. Last year I tried using copper tape around some plants as slug defence but it is hideously expensive and some really determined slugs did get past it somehow. This year, again, I will use a lot of sharp sand to keep the slugs back, as well as plastic bottle necks around taller plants. I have also bought some biodegradable gel which is supposed to act as a slug barrier - it's in for a thorough road test in my garden.
At last the rain stayed away for a whole day today - I celebrated by planting a row of broad beans and putting some gladiola bulbs in the front garden for good measure.
Fingers crossed for another fine day tomorrow!