A Place in Wiltshire

Well, it is still incredibly dry in Wiltshire. Despite the lack of rain and high temperatures things have struggled on. I have tried to help, with a bit of watering, but that isnt easy. Hosepipes are not allowed on our site and there is only one tap next to plot number one. As i am on plots seven and eight its a fair old walk backwards and forwards. Over time this developed from carrying two cans at a time, to three cans, and now its four cans in a wheelbarrow. Yes, it does look like something out of Its a knockout, and i do splash a fair bit around, but i still end up with more than three can fulls of water by the time i get to the plot, so it does work! if nothing else it amuses the neighbours watching me trundle along!

Incredibly, yesterday i picked three yellow cherry tomoates, which are growing outside. they are even ahead of the ones in the greenhouse. I cant recall the name as they came from the Heritage Seed Library (HSL)catalogue, but they were specifically an old variety no longer available but developed for growing outside. On the subject of HSL, i would thoroughly recommend them to anyone who has an interest in unusal and no longer commercially available veg! they have some weird stuff ! they are a charity and for an annual membership you can get up to seven varieites of seed a year. they send you a catalogue and you pick what you want. The quantities are small, and as you only get seven picks you still need to come to the good people of VEGSEED NET, for the majority of your seeds. The idea is you grow it and try and save your own seed if you like it. I have a selection of plants growing this year, Delaway cut and come again cabbage, purple flowered broad beans, which are worth growing for the flowers alone, and lots of different varieties of peas and french beans. The childrens favourites are the purple and white carrots, thats two different sorts, by the way, not a stripey carrot! Why not look them up and see if it is something you might like to join?

Much like one of my earlier posts, my next batch of plants for transplanting are sat getting pot bound. January King cabbage, Purple Sprouting Brocolli, Brussel Sprouts are all in desperate need of going out, but the ground and the weather are preventing it. come on rain!

Incredibly every single plot on my site is now under cultivation. some have been divided in half, another into quarters, OK these are very small but really ideal for those who want to dabble but dont have the time or inclination to take on a full plot. I must admit it is really bizarre to see all the activity and to have people to talk too, after three years of hardly ever seeing a sole. I was worried at one time the site would be lost, no chance of that now, it really is on the up.

must get some photos up. blogs look better with pictures.

Now i know it was a Bank Holiday but i was grateful for the rain, over the weekend. The soil was incredibly dry, and the seeds that had started to grow really needed the wet to get them going, hopefully now they will really start to grow. As ever though there is always a negative side, and the strong winds that were also a feature of the weekend, didnt do some of the haricot and runner beans any favours, quite a few have lost leaves and a couple have been snapped off. i think this was also as a result of them getting a bit leggy in pots whilst they were waiting for transplanting, which i couldnt do until it looked like it was going to rain. arrrgghh.

In between the rain i did manage to get some more seeds in though, another row of carrots, some Florence Fennel and a row of Kohl Rabi. i have never grown the latter before, and i’m not sure what im going to do with it when/if it grows. It looks really weird, which is why i was tempted to buy the seed when i saw it being sold cheap in Aldi! (Sorry vegetable seed peole).

Actually that reminds me. I have always, prior to this year, bought my seed from well known catalogues/brands or from the local garden centres. i have always been a bit wary of ‘cheap’ seeds. Last year i came across this web site, cant recall how, it may have been mentioned in a Money Saving expert newsletter, and as i already had my list of requirements ready to go i did a quick variety, price and number of seeds per packet comparision. This web site was compared against a couple of the well known mail order catalogues. My thoughts before i started were that this website wouldn’t be able to supply the vegetables varieties i wanted, there would be fewer seeds per packet, although i would spend a bit less money. i also had a worry about seed viability. Would they actually grow ! Needless to say, i was mightily surprised, agreed, there were a couple of vegetables where choice was a bit more limited and i couldnt have the variety i wanted, but the number of seeds in a packet compared well, sometimes better and the total price differences were astonishing. i put my order in straight away and have been very pleased with the results. Well done Vegetable seed net! One small complaint though. i do find the packets awkward to open and tend to rip them unevenly, when you have fat fingers, dirty from messing about in the plot they arent the easiest things to grip and open. Perhaps some thought could go into a resdesign?

Father in law has just dropped off a load of cabbage and Celariac so i’m off to the allotment to get them in.

At last the threats of frost seem to have gone. The potatoes took a hit as did some French beans, the latter were covered with fleece but it didnt save the plants such has been the severity of the recent overnight cold. I guess thats one I shall have to put down to experience and start again. Although that said the French beans were in early so that they cropped before the runner beans were ready. If I replant now I will end up with them both cropping at the same time and be inundated with beans. Runners are by far the more popular in my house, so i may just give the French Beans a miss this time.

Anyway, as the sun is shining today and it is fairly warm all thoughts of painting the second coat on the living room walls when I get home from work will be postponed. I’m not sure how well that will go down at home as the house is in a bit of a pickle with furniture everywhere, but hey, Vegetables are way more important DIY!

My son has a load of Pumpkins to plant out, he put a few in last year and had great success growing them. I’m all for encouraging kids to garden and was surprised he got involved last season, especially as he doesnt like eating the stuff. Still I should have known there was an ulterior motive, after I had transported them all home for him last September he stored them in the shed, before making some signs at the end of October and flogging them to passing motorists for Halloween. By undercutting the local supermarket he made a good few quid, and was very pleased with his efforts. This year he has grown more plants, in the hope of making a bigger killing in the Autumn. I can see I will have to fight for space for my own Squash. I grow them to eat not sell, and have a real mixture of varieties, including something called Chicago warted hubbard, which looks a beast. Choosing seeds for Squash is one of the hardest choices I have to make, I love experimenting with them, as opposed to being pretty conservative when it comes to choosing other vegetable varieties.

Anyway enough of this rambling, time to make my list of jobs to crack on with tonight, long live the warm weather.