The vegetable seedsmen have fantastic catalogues, which advise on the best seed varieties for specific situations and gardens.
The catalogues often have:
- special offers
- free delivery
They are a good read on a cold, wet winter’s day.
The Demeter Seeds Stormy Hall catalogue has biodynamic, open pollinated vegetable seeds with organic certification. It is based at the Camphill Village in North Yorkshire. The varieties are robust and grow well in harsher Northern climates. They tend to be rather Germanic, vigorous, heavy croppers often bland in flavour. Highly recommended by TopVeg! Email for a catalogue: stormy.hall.botton@camphill.org.uk
Order vegetable seed catalogues online from:
www.suttons-seeds.co.uk
www.dobies.co.uk
www.unwinsdirect.co.uk
www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk
www.thompson-morgan.com
edwin tucker
seeds by size
seeds of italy
seeds of distinction
stormy hall seeds botton
more veg
Where to buy vegetable seeds is still a problem as there is so much choice!
Some of the courgettes have been planted out into the vegetable garden. We usually wait till the end of May before planting them out, as there is still a risk of frost. The nights are cold, but covered with a glass dome, they should be safe.
The seeds were grown in pots, and are looking healthy.
Courgettes prefer an open well drained site. Traditionally, marrows were always planted on the farm muck heap. So, we try to mimmick those conditions, by digging a large hole and filling it half full with well rotted farm yard manure. This is covered by some fibrous, strawy material, and then soil. The courgette is usually planted on a slight mound.
Slugs adore courgettes, and break off the growing tip. So we surround the plant with soot, if we can find it, because the slugs will not move through soot. This year soot is in short supply here, so we have surrounded the plant with light sand – hoping that the slugs will not like that either!
The newly planted courgette is covered with a glass jar, jam jar, or whatever is available. This will reduce transpiration, and stop the plant wilting because of the wind. The glass will also protect the plant from cold nights.
Related articles:
The squash family
Planting butternut squash seeds
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The First True Leaves are growing on the Asparagus Peas.
The two large cotyledon leaves are still bright green, but the first true leaves are now developing – 29 days after planting the asparagus pea seeds.
Germination has been about 33% – disappointing , but only to be expected after the 2007 Which report.
The asparagus pea seedlings were transplanted into ‘root trainers’ and placed in the poly-tunnel. Something has eaten one cotyledon (the seed leaf), so a close watch will have to be taken for pests from now on.
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Monty Don, the new president of the Soil Association, announced at the Guardian Hay festival that vegetable gardening must continue to expand.
The Gaurdian reported that “Holden and Don advised the turning over of private gardens, public parks and open space surrounding offices to vegetable growing.” Holden said that, in light of environmental concerns and what he believes is an impending oil crisis, he was calling for “a national policy of self-sufficiency in staple foods”.
More food must be produced locally and gardeners are capable of growing superb quality vegetables. Vegetable growing must continue to expand!
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Bramley Apple Week (3-10 February 2008) celebrates the Bramley Apple which is the best of all cooking apples.
Bramley apples:
- are only grown in Britain
- are versatile, used in savoury & sweet dishes
- retain their flavour throughout the cooking process
- produce a light, airy, moist texture, with a ‘melt in the mouth’ consistency
- count towards your five a day
The Bramley Apple site lists the Health Benefits of Bramley Apples:
powerful source of antioxidants, including polyphenols, flavonoids, and vitamin C, as well as a good source of fibre, and potassium.
high in fibre which reduces the risk of developing heart disease.
The antioxidant content of apples has been linked to the prevention of lung cancer, improved pulmonary (lung) function, and the prevention of type II diabetes.
The vitamin A helps maintain vision and keeps your immune system healthy. Iron prevents anaemia and potassium keeps up muscle function.
Apples contain flavonoids called quercetin, which has been shown in numerous studies to have anti-cancer properties.
Bramley apples are the best cooking apples because they produce a light, airy, moist texture when cooked and retain their flavour.
Comment:
I love apples! Obviously, we don’t have Bramleys here in the Annapolis Valley (the Apple Capital of Nova Scotia, if not the country), but we have Gravensteins (a Slowfood International Food now), Cox Orange Pippins, Russets, (these are two of my favourites) and of course a slew of others that are fairly well known: Gala, Honeycrisp (vastly overrated) Jonagold, Spigold, Golden and Red Delicious, McIntosh (ick!) among many, many others. I like apples with a real snap to them and lots of flavour; usually we have two or three different cultivars here in the house, since there are lots of fruit growers locally.
Comment by jodi – February 8, 2008 2:51 am
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It is important to protect vegetables from the cold which is predicted for the next few nights. Frost is forecast, and it looks as though we will have some seriously cold temperatures over the next few nights.
Young seedlings are tender, and vulnerable to the frost. At worst, they will be killed. Otherwise the frost will damage their cells, slow down their growth, and reduce their potential. Frosted vegetable plants will not yield so much.
Return on effort is one of TopVeg’s guiding principles – so do not allow the frost to affect potential yield, & reduce the return on all the effort put in so far.
Protect the plants from the cold temperatures by covering them over. (more…)
Controlling weeds in the vegetable garden is important at this time of the year when all plants are growing quickly.
small-thistle
Click the links below for more TopVeg weed help:
- the need to attack weeds when they are very small
Five minutes with a hoe as you inspect the vegetables each evening has a significant effect.
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Growing new potatoes throughout the year is quite a challenge.
In nature a potato will start to grow in the spring and have decent sized tubers in the autumn. But gardeners in the UK are trying to stretch the boundaries & some are now trying to produce new potatoes for Christmas day – but it is not easy.
This year we have grown 2 crops of early potatoes on one patch. The first potatoes are planted in a poly tunnel in February. As soon as these are harvested, they are replaced with more early potato seed. These yielded well in July.
Next year we are planning to grow 3 crops of potatoes in the same patch. The third crop will be new potatoes planted in July, but they will need to be covered with plastic.
The problems & difficulties in growing potatoes ‘out of season’ are:
- seed maturity,(the seed potato must have been produced in the previous calendar year – and to keep it from sprouting and growing, it has to be kept very cool) If potato seed is left in the light during the summer, it will age, and become too mature to grow when planted (even if it has not grown long shoots.) It is important to stop the potato seed from ageing, if it is going to be planted late (Sept-Oct). Keep the seed in the bottom of the fridge (cold & dark) to stop it ageing.
- warmth, (to allow the potato plant to grow well),
- daylength (which we are running out of) but needed for hours of growth
- frost (which is no good at all!)
But it should be possible for us to be growing new potatoes throughout next year!
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The Red Admiral (Latin name – Vanessa atalanta) is a dark brown/black colour with orange bands and white markings.
The Red Admiral butterflies love to visit Buddleia, which is known as the butterfly bush.
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Flowers on potatoes result in fruits on the potato tops.
After potato plants flower, some varieties, such as Maris Bard, will produce small green fruits, rather like green cherry tomatoes. These potato fruits are POISONOUS.
Do not eat the green fruits that appear in the potato foliage above ground. It is the potato tubers below ground that are edible. Potatoes are in the same family as deadly nightshade – with equally deadly fruits!
Although some potato flowers result in fruits on the potato tops, they cannot be eaten.
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