Seedy Saturday, 2012 edition

We attended our second Seedy Saturday in Totnes today. It was great. There was a friendly vibe, the seeds were well laid out and organised and I had a great time. There was a bit of confusion about the entry fee, the stuff I'd read online said one thing and the person on the door said another, which tripped me up a little but we got in. We also managed to make some excellent swaps.

Debating over lettuce seeds while Stephen takes secret pictures of my back

We took with us some of our leftover seeds. As balcony gardener's we have lots of leftovers, a full seed packet is hardly ever going to be used up in such a small space. I decanted them into origami seed packets made from the instructions that can be found in the preview for Gayla Trail's new book over here. They are really fun to make. I used some scrap book paper I'd bought for... well I have no idea, I'm not a scrapbooker... and I love the way they turned out. Someone else at the seed swap had made the same packets and I did a little cheer, knowing I had a seed packet sister or brother out there.

Our Seeds, packaged up and ready to swap

So what did we get? There whre some lovlies this year. I spotted an asparagus pea, although we just ordered our own so we didn't take it home, and there where plenty of interesting varieties about. I got some Oakleaf lettuce which I love for it's crisp texture and good flavour. It's a great sandwich lettuce.I picked up choy sum, some lemon balm and feverfew, none of which I've grown before. A red-cored chanternay carrot came home with us. Leef Beat, Vulkan, is red too which was developed for baby leaves but is 'also excellent' when grown on. A packet of peas which I'll probably grow for tendrils was too hard to resist but the one I'm most excited about is a Broad Bean. Grando Violetto which is listed on Otter Farm as 'unusual heritage variety - the beans turn purple when mature or when cooked although the pods remain green while they grow' Purple? Awesome.

Choices, choices.

They also sold seed potatoes at the event, per kg naturally. After we explained that we are balcony growers and only need one they sold us a single seed potato. Awwww. It's Orla which has a good flavour and is loved by organic growers as it's unfussy. We have plenty of lovely things to grow this year. I'm very excited.

Springtime Spinach

I love spinach and have been growing it on the balcony since I started. I grow spinach beet. It's easier and more tolerant of our high temperatures. I like to think it's maritime ancestry makes it feel more at home. But this year I've diversified slightly. Along with a large patch of spinach beet underneath one of our passion flowers I've also put in some true spinach.

Gorgeous Greens

The Second Box to Grow

Last Thursday our Riverford box to grow arrived. We got one last year so we knew what to expect: tough as nails plants that keep on giving. I ate many meals last summer courtesy of our box to grow. This year I don't expect a difference although I was a little disappointed that there are fewer herbs this year.

The Box Arrives

More Rainy Days

It's officially an annual tradition! March rain bring all sorts of loveliness with it. The extra water seems to give plants an excuse to throw out lush leaves. Seedlings take it as a opportunity to poke their heads up. We've even got some flowers forming.

Mini Tunnel

One of my garden recycling projects I didn't talk about in the last post was my milk bottle tunnel. I wasn't very sure that it would work so, although you can see it in some of the pictures if you squint, I left it out of the round up. But Today I was jumping up and down happily. You can see seedlings. So let's get down to the nitty gritty.

Recycling in The Garden

Our first year growing we bought some small pots. Being on a balcony and starting from scratch we've needed to buy a lot of things in: endless amount of compost and the big tubs for outside, seeds, plug plants, bare root plants and impulse buys. But since that first year I've never bought another little pot. I just wash out my previous year's pots and hope my plant buying habit would also supply my pot needs.

Tomatoes Latah and Koralik Bask in Their Reused Pots

Pea Tendrils

Peas are such epic germinators that it's wise to start a load off every time you sow something you're feeling anxious about like a new tomato variety or your first cucumber ever. Rather than raising the lid to see if your more delicate specimens have popped their head up you can be distracted by the fierce colour and frantic activity of the peas.

We grew and ate pea tendrils last spring and summer but we didn't keep up with sowing to have a winter supply. Now I'm trying to get back into the habit. Considering how easy it is to start some off - take peas, sow in small pot of compost - and how quick it is to see results I imagine I'll grow quite a lot this year. Plus you get a nice smug glow from growing a posh veg for practically nothing!

mini meals

I finally got around to thinning my lettuces. Which is about time really. I'm very lazy with thinning and I just won't learn when it comes to sowing sparsely either. Oh well.


I tried to put some of the orphans in other pots but most of them got washed for a micro lettuce layer in my brie sandwich. It's an accidental micro crop. But I have micro crops growing on purpose too. These are carrots sown for their mini leaves. I got the idea here and as carrot seed can't be stored one year to the next I thought I may as well go for it.

Beans

I phoned Stephen up when I was in London this weekend managing to stretch hours of conversation out of the pretence of seeing if the hamster had been fed or telling him when my train gets in.

One of the things I got constant up dates on were the fortunes of these little buggers. My beans. First one popped up, then all three of the French, more leaves appeared... they're even bigger now because it took me so long to blog this...

I need them outside and looking happy by the time we go away in mid-may. I started them earlier this year because last year my runner bean failed to establish. No amount of my watering could make up for the baking it received when it got outside and then the drenching, and then the baking again.

So I'm hoping they may get established before the summer starts proper. Which shouldn't harm them as we've firmly hit the mild, hot seasidey spring. In fact I'd pay for a spring shower about now.

Grow Box

Around here exciting things come in boxes. Today especially. Our Box To Grow came. It was packed with all these goodies

"Lettuce Eluarde (Red Oakleaf) x 3
Lettuce Hardy (Green Oakleaf) x 3
Rocket x 2 Mustard x 3
Rainbow chard x 3
Swiss chard x 3
Spring Onion x 3
Beetroot x 4
Parsley x 2
Mint x 2
Coriander x 2
Parsley (Pot) x 1
Mint (Pot) x 1
Coriander (Pot) x 1
Peas (Packet of seeds) x 1
Radish (Packet of seeds) x 1"

I have some space in some pots going free and I went out to buy one more. But I knew it was going to be a squeeze. I didn't know it was going to be this much of a squeeze though! I sat there, the plants and myself wilting in the April sun trying desperately to invent room. Here is what I went for...


The Beefsteak Tomatoes where also due out today so I desperately thought what the hell can I inter crop with them. The tomatoes take up lots of vertical height but they are thin enough to have some company, at least with some fast growers. In the small pot I spread around some spring onions and beetroot. The beetroot will only end up small but I have another two varieties elsewhere so I'm not loosing anything to produce jewel like little ones.

The large pot has one of the Beefsteaks towards the camera. Again it's the idea of tall and thin. Surrounding it, again quick croppers, are spring onions in a rough semi circle. Beyond that, on the side with the sea, I went for fat but short as not to overshadow the toms. I put in the Chard and some Rocket which I put next to the chard and then got muddled with... oh well, it will live. With luck.
The next planting point was around the Blackcurrant. In it's first year it's going to be unproductive so some short lived Green Oak Leaf lettuce, coriander and parsley will give us something from the space while hopefully keeping weeds down and reminding us to water.

Then I really was just inventing space. I filled up one of the boxes it came in with the mint, and one of ours from last year. It may get a more permanent home. We'll see!


Then with some of my perennial herbs went the mustard and the rocket. The space was kindly vacated by the mint above and a rosemary that we have stripped this winter. I think I'll have to get a bigger one this year. But for now I'm glad of the space. Another box I sowed peas for pea tendrils. Yes we did watch The Edible Garden last night and I am wondering what the chances of an non-alcoholic peatini. Again, as for it's longevity we'll just have to see.

Okay now everyone, group shot!

Our Dig In seeds have arrived! I'm actually a bit less excited about the varieties this year than last year. Possibly because I've lasted an entire season but tomatoes, beetroot and squash just seem a bit more exciting than this lot.

The French beans (making 2 climbing and 1 dwarf so far this year) are in. The carrot I'm waiting so I can have a late crop. The bought ones have been in since early march. The salad will get popped in wherever I can and the basil... well I never have much luck with it but I may as well try.

The Courgette... I've got some free gift Black Beauty left over from last year so I guess these will get saved up for the next seed swap.

This post isn't exactly dripping with excitement is it? But don't get me wrong. It will be a pleasure to watch these guys grow.

Everyday Stuff

Gardening, unlike blogging in some respects, isn't just about the exciting first steps, the big project and the grand finale. Especially at this time of year it's more to do with the little steps. The unglamorous jobs. So in that vein here is half an hour in the life of me and my plants.


The Preparation

It's the start of April so I pull my lists down off the wall, unearth all the seeds that I'll need for the coming month. I do my daily task of putting out the babies in their little cloches. I pick jobs for the day. I need to sow beetroot later this month in my salad trugs so the winter salad needs to go. My butterfly annuals also need to go in so I'll manage some nice, nectary colour later in the year.The Legacy of Winter
Butterfly annuals sown it's time to take up the winter rocket. Now is a good time to take stock of the winter crops. My insurance policy of kale failed. Most likey drowned out by the spinach beet and chard who have grown vigorously in November then steadily over the cold season. I've been eating the chard over winter. It's livened up my plate to no end this week. And the spinach made a special appearance at Christmas.

The salads where less successful. Mainly through neglect. I never did get that jumper for them. The lettuces survived until, as I mentioned, they where snowed on. The onions came to nothing. The rocket on the other hand could not be stopped. Until it bolted that is. I left the flowers untill I needed the pot for something else and pulled them up today.
The Appreciation

No trip onto the balcony is complete without an appreciation of all the wonderful things growing out there. For special mention I selected this Snake's Head Fritillary which was planted from Sainsbury's own bulbs. Looks good enough to be made into a handbag. Between this and the crocus I think I did well with my bargain basement bulbs.

Coming into The Warmth

The newly sown babies and indoor plants needed a good water. Can you tell what this one is? It's a peanut, just opening. There are two others in the pot and they make attractive plants. And good conversation pieces. You know, if we weren't antisocial and had people over.

Attention Dig Inners

You can now apply for seeds from the Dig In website.

A little mix up

First some more garden news. Today the new, relaunched Dig in site is up and running. This year they are giving away French beans, salad leaves, carrots, courgettes and basil. There is also a new 'plan your space' section which isn't ground breaking but isn't bad either.

Next up is my unbeatable craving for anything salty, saucy and fatty right now. So for a snack I fried some brilliantly flavoured Dry Masala Mixed Nuts from Cooking Like Mummyji. Nice but I could never, ever eat that many peanuts. But the jar I decanted my peanuts into was already full. I opened the bag the night before to make...


A classic that I don't think I've cooked since I first bought Vegan with a Vengeance; the Brooklyn Pad Thai.

Seedy Saturday

I feel like a real blogger now. I did one of those things that I've always read about. I seed swapped.

We turned up at the event and paid our £1 each. We were told the rules. Seeds are available for a 50p donation. After explaining that I'd brought some to swap we were told the swappers rules: just put down a comparable amount of seeds to the amount you take.

It made Stephen kind of nervous. What if someone saw us do it in the wrong order and thought we where stealing? In truth nobody asked us anything. At all. It kind of felt like intruding on a private members club where you don't get a look in unless you already know everyone. But I'm not the least neurotic person on the planet so take that with a grain of salt.

I was over generous with my comparable amounts and for my seeds I swapped Japanese Parsley, Rue, Kale and some Climbing French Beans from this allotment. Stephen picked them up first and I'm glad. Left to mature it means we will have grown our own haricot. Which is cool. Although I hardly ever use haricot. My gardening eyes are bigger than my belly.

So now all that's left to do is wedge these (rather forcefully by the looks of it) into my planting calender. We had a nice day out in Totnes but perhaps next year we might want to think about putting something together closer to home.

Garden stuff

A £1 bag of crocus bulbs, looking smashing in spring. And there is other exciting gardening news too although, I admit, I'm being more than a little Devon-centric here.

Tomorrow is the 4th annual Totnes Seedy Saturday. Being in one of our favorite towns and having seeds. Well how could we miss it? I've packaged up all of our leftovers. We're taking cauliflower, mint, chives, swede, marigold, nasturtiums, sun flowers, and dwarf French beans.

And speaking of some of our favourite places in Devon Riverford will be offering boxes to grow this spring. We're looking at the the small veg one. Although most of the balcony is already mapped out for this year and we'll probably end up with more seeds tomorrow but what can it hurt?

Unless the balcony collapses.

Rocket Redo

It's always a tragedy to chuck greens. It's worse when you grow them yourself. My rocket had just archived the perfect size when we hit a bout of unseasonal warmth. And it bolted.

I wouldn't mind letting it continue later in the year. It would be nice to watch it do it's seedy thing. See it grow big and strong. Taste it along the way. But it's early June. Space is very much needed as are more salad leaves.

So I pulled up the first lot and went for a second sowing. It's cloudy now so there may be some hope.

Is there a fan club?

Mainly because I'd already ordered my seeds before I heard about the Dig In campaign it was a bit too late by the time the seeds arrived.

They came before we went away last week and by this point I'd already got flowers on all my Gardener's Delight Tomatoes (the Beefsteak behind from being planted months after), I'd filled up the space in the salad trough reserved for the Lollo Rossa and my carrot tub was already full, my spare seeds freecycled.

Stephen's Dad reports that he's still waiting for his as the BBC has run out. Still it's a worthwhile project and it's given me the opportunity to plant Squash and Lollo Rossa which I hadn't planned or though of. And watching the videos and the bits on Gardeners World has given this beginner veg grower some reassurance.

The Squash and Lollo Rossa where planted just before we headed to Chester. I scrounged an extra pot for the lettuce and I don't have to worry about how I don't have room to grow a squash for another month or so. They have both come up already along with a chickpea.

I sprouted the chickpea before going to Chester and poped it in a leftover pot of compost. According to Alys Fowler's (who I admire for her red hair and fun outfits as well as her gardening awesomeness) book The Thrifty Gardener this little guy will grow into a charming plant with leaves like saw teeth. May as well try it.

Monsanto-free round up

Seeds

Sown salad leaves. Rocket and mixed orientals. Desperate for my BBC Lollo Rosso. Apart from that this years first sowing is done. Scary thought. Too much or not enough?

Shoots

Stormy weather has seen the appearance of the salad leaves and radishes.

Buying

A pretty purple primrose (looking rather ill from the transport and transplanting) and eau de cologne mint came home with us from the Torre Abbey plant sale.

Tomatoes

Three fruit now growing. More flowers showing indoors.

Garden Round Uping

Seeds

Suddenly I feel the need for decorative plants. Nothing fussy though. The deep red picture on a pack of sweet peas (beaujolias, from the rather odd Laura Ashley seed collection) Sun flowers to attract bees in the shape of dwarf little leo and impractically large but red black magic. Poppies too. A nice subdued mother of pearl and because subdued isn't my style the nutty bright red field poppy. Because I can't remember what they taste like I also got a pack of radishes.

Planted the sweet peas directly outside rather than miss the season and have to start next year. I wedged two radishes where I could find space. I can't remember where that was...

Shoots

Borage and chives have appeared from my first herby pot. Some rather weedy looking coriander is poking through.

Buying

Stephen got inspired by Gardener's World and just had to buy a jasmine to creep around our balcony. I bought an aubergine plant marketed at kids (it came in a bright yellow pot!!!) and a grown-ups pepper plant.