Let's get this sow(ing) on the road!

It's been quite a nice weekend, apart from the torrential wind and rain overnight on Saturday (when I wouldn't have been doing much gardening anyway!)

So, got started with a bit of sowing; 3 each of moneymaker, gardener's delight, red cherry, green zebra and cream sausage, along with some mustard and cress which surprisingly I have never grown before.

I also purchased seed potatoes; maris bard & bonnie and set them out on the kitchen windowsill to chit until ready to plant in the spring.

Strawberry plants were delivered. A couple of weeks ago, the fruit bed was cleared out as I am relocating soft fruit elsewhere in the garden, so I ordered some new plants at the same time; 6 of the variety vibrant are in in the potting shed with the roots covered in moist compost until I plant them out.

Let's hope the last of the snow has fallen and I can continue as I have started.

First Job Done!

What a difference a day makes... yesterday was dark, miserable, near torrential rain, yet today was absolutely delightful; it might have been a little bit chilly which is to be expected for January, but it was dry and the sun was shining.

So, finally got the first job done this morning, planting my early, early potatoes... I usually do this around March or April time, but this way the plan is to have them ready to eat around March or April time; not sure if I'll achieve that but I'm giving it a go!

The 15 swift tubers that were chitting on the kitchen windowsill are now out there on their own to flourish... well, with a little bit of undercover support. This was the first sack before I covered them over

and this is all three sacks on location in the greenhouse (which is quite warm when it's sunny) for the next couple of months

The other thing I have done which is a bit different to normal, is fill the bags up with compost rather than wait for shoots to appear and do the topping up thing; I've always wanted to try it this way to see if it makes any difference. Roll on spring!

Happy New Year

I am so excited about the coming season; spent an hour wandering around the local garden centre this morning; ordered new seeds online (more about that later); and the sun is shining today, which I am taking as a sign that this year we will have more favourable weather than last year.

I have already started some things off; in the autumn I planted some onion sets and they seem to be doing pretty well

 

I also started off some peas and have so far managed to keep them pretty happy in the potting shed

 

Again I am trying with broad beans, which are now planted out and fleeced to keep out the cold, and hopefully the dreaded blackfly which seem to be present all year round

 

 

 

I was seduced by a mailing from one of the online garden centres which advertised “Potatoes for Easter”, so currently have 15 swift tubers chitting on the kitchen windowsill; they need to be planted in January so I will probably do that at the weekend and keep the sacks in the greenhouse for now.

I’m planning on trying a host of new produce this year:

Whilst I love french beans I’m not really a fan of runners, so this year they will be one of my “if I grow it I might like it” experiments; I will be trying hunter and jiminez.

I can’t seem to watch a cooking show, either professional chefs or amateurs without celeriac popping up somewhere, so I’ll be trying monarch this year.

I’m going big on winter veg, so as well as re-introducing leeks which I really missed last year and regret not growing any, I will be attempting two new varieties of squash; festival and sweet dumpling.

I’ll also be introducing a couple of heritage tomatoes, green zebra and cream sausage, just the names of them make me chuckle.

The most challenging new addition will be mushrooms, chestnut button portobello and white button; although, according to the write-up they are the easiest things to grow, so we’ll see.

So much to look forward to, I really can’t wait to get going.