How NOT to make cress creatures, and other gardening disappointments

Well we learn from our mistakes, don't we. Turns out cress is nothing like grass - it doesn't grow in tiny little blades that can push through a stocking, but rather it grows in a curly way with the seed bit up on top of itself til the green leafy part of the cress pushes it off (not the greatest description, I know, but my botanical vocabulary is very limited!). It's obvious now, in the way things so often are in retrospect, that the best way to grow hairies using cress is with an open container such as an eggshell (like this) or a small yogurt container. 

But what I did instead was just to cut a section off the top of the stocking where the cress was trying to escape. Out sprang two heads of lovely, curly hair! Now, after just a week, the creatures are well and truly ready for a haircut.

Another gardening-related failure - the world's most disappointing beetroot crop, harvested today:

  

How sad - all that lovely soil and devoted watering (too much, perhaps?)  produced these pathetic things with NOT A SINGLE BEETROOT AMONG THEM. These were one of the few winter vegetables I planted. At least the snowpeas have had the decency to provide us with something edible:

And the mixed lettuces have been fantastic, if a little slow growing.

A couple of cos lettuces have endured since summer and are looking deliciously green and crunchy:

I'm so looking forward to springtime when we can plant tomatoes, basil and other wonderful things.