Seedy intentions

Celery, if allowed to flower, provides a great source of interest for smaller flying insects. Later, when it sets seed, these can be harvested for the kitchen or left to self seed in the surrounding soil.

Seedy

               Tricky to get to germinate, but lots to try with.

Drying out

Ready, steady, sow

Now sowing indoors; peas, broad beans, tomatoes, chillis, phlox, calendula, sweet peas, rudbeckia.

Forward planning

                   Boxing Day Seed Sale: 20 packets @ 30p each

Seedy business

                   Time to harvest sunflower seeds for next year.

Dry pod

 

These borlotti beans are best eaten fresh, not the whole pod, like runner beans and very early broad beans, but green and plump (despite the colour of the pod) like late broad beans.

           A good store of dried beans to use as seed for next year.

Sunny delight

Birds and rodents find fresh sunflower seeds irresistible, so after a few hours drying in the sun, these seed heads will be secreted away in the seed bank for next year.

The Sower

Came across a postcard of Van Gogh's 'The Sower' this week, apt for this time of year, when so many seeds are crying out for compost, pots, modules, seed trays, sunny window ledges, an airing cupboard or a well-tilled soil.

Already on the go for the veg garden :

• Tomatoes (Roma & Costoluto)
• Chillies (Cayenne)
• Courgettes
• Peas (Kelvedon Wonder)
• Broad Beans
• Celery
• Lettuce
• Spinach 
• Coriander
• Parsley

And a few flowers :

• Sunflowers
• Sweet Peas 
• Antirhinnum
• Osteospermum
• Cosmos
• Rudbeckia
• Phlox
• Sweet Rocket
• Black Eyed Susan
• Calendula
• Tagetes
• Coreopsis

Better not have forgotten anything!

Shake A Leg

Snow's all gone, not everything's dead. The broccoli and kale might recover. Added some lime (calcium carbonate) to the soil for the first time, to reduce the acidity and enable better nutrient uptake.



Still a few bargain packets of seeds to be bought in the sales. Night scented stock is a particular favourite and some pink morning glory will look good winding its way up something.



Sowed some broad beans, parsnips and leeks indoors. Had some of this year's parsnips and leeks for lunch plus a few tiddly sprouts. Stewed plums and custard for pudding.



Potted up a few rosemary cuttings that have been standing in water for weeks and developed tap roots.