Gardening News

A snottogram from the council last week; I have 4 weeks to tidy my plot or lose it. Now I agree with keeping the plots cultivated, growing vegetables etc, but it's still winter. It's cold out, there's no planting to be done and even the slugs are fast asleep. Luckily Hwngo came over and did some sterling rotavating work last weekend, so my (our?) conscience is clear. Maybe the letter's just the council's version of an annual "wake up, you need to start digging your potato beds" call. Whatever.

Speaking of potatoes, I'm chitting. Well, they are, and with very little help from me; chitting really just consists of standing a bagful of spuds on their ends in the light and warm until nice strong shoots shoot(please pardon pun, is late) out of their ends. And then, when they're big and strong, the potatoes go into the ground and come out a few months later as kit-form dinner. I have a bag each of Charlotte (yummy last year), Red Duke of York and Epicure; the Red Duke of York are already close to being ready to plant (see photo). And if someone steals my potato crop again, I shall be very very cross and consider spiking the bed with Scoville-rated surprises.

But next I need to build my first raised beds and sort out a bed plan and planting schedule. Because my house is dark (trees), I can't bring my seeds on early, but I'll still need to start planting them from the end of this month. In this year's packs are:
* Continental salad blend (sow march-sept)
* Chicory Orchidea Rossa (sow feb-aug)
* Chicory Variegata Di Castelfranco (plant feb-aug)
* Shallot Zebrune (plant feb-apr)
* Tomatillo Purple de Milpa (plant feb-apr)
* Carrot Purple Haze (plant apr-july)
* Tomato Black Cherry (plant feb-apr)
* Climbing bean Blauhilde (plant apr-july)
* Dwarf bean Purple Teepee (plant apr-july)
* Broccoli Rudolph (plant apr-june)
* Pak Choy (plant apr-july)
* Climbing french bean (plant apr-july)
* Chicory Agena (plant July-Aug)
* French sorrel Rumex Scutatus (plant mar-apr, 2 packs)
* Cos lettuce Marshall (plant mar-july)
* Sweet pea Fragrant Skies (plant Jan-May; because it's nice to have some flowers in the veg patch)

And yes, many of those vegetables are black...