Digging & Dreaming

Ready! Steady! Go!

I always feel like my growing year is really starting when I plant my chilli seeds which are normally the first thing to be planted in my house after the long winter break. They need a really long season if you want a good harvest so I always want to get them in by the end of February at the very latest.

This year I will be growing fourteen varieties (please don't ask about how this happened as I promised myself last year that I wouldn't go over the top with planting this time! - how wrong I was!) Chillies need a good degree of warmth to get going so I will be planting them up in pre-warmed soil in my propagtor. That's where they stay until they're big enough to be potted on and moved to a warm windowsill, then finally into my greenhouse when the summer is well underway. I suppose you could say this is quite a lot of messing around to grow a few chillies but I really love spicy food so I'm willing to make the effort. Especially as the varieties you can grow yourself are so much more exciting than the ones you can buy in the supermarket.

The variety I'm most excited about this year is the Padron Pepper. This is a famous pepper grown in Padron in Galicia, Spain. They are small green peppers that are served fried with olive oil and coarse salt. Most taste sweet and mild though some are particularly hot and spicy, which makes eating them kind of like a spicy Russian Roulette. Great fun! I'm really looking forward to preparing my own at home later in the year.

 

Tabletop Gardening

When it's icy and cold it's frustrating to be stuck inside but there are still plenty of things that you can do to get your garden in order. On these dark winter evenings there's nothing better than settling down with a cup of tea and a couple of seed catalogues to browse and come up with big ideas for the months to come. So, on this theme, here are some of my favourite "tabletop" gardening tasks that will be keeping me sane over the coming weeks.

• Go through your seed stores and make sure that you aren't keeping stock that is out of date. All seed loses fertility year on year so there's no real benefit in keeping any for longer than three seasons.Check the date on your seed packets and get rid of any that are past their best. As heartbreaking as it may be to do this with seemingly healthy seeds it's not as disappointing as spending time planting and caring for seeds that don't germinate. An exception to the three year rule are carrots and parsnips that only last for one season so if you buy any new seed this time round don't feel bad about planting the lot!
• Once you know what seeds you've already got you can start drawing up a list of what you want to grow and what you need to buy. However, as hard as it may be, resist the temptation to buy everything that catches your eye. Be realistic about how much space you've really got and how many different varieties of each crop you actually want or need. Having said all this, I attempted to grow six varieties of pumpkin last year, five varieties of courgette and eleven different tomatoes (that all got blight!) so I don't always practice what I preach...
• Not sure where to buy seeds from? This year I ordered most of my seeds from Real Seeds in Pembrokeshire. They're great advocates for seed saving so no hybrids here, and each pack of seeds comes with great tips on cultivation. Their website is also a mine of information on saving your own seed if you want to give that a go. Seeds of Italy offer a wonderful selection of traditional Italian seed stock. They're great for tomatoes, salad leaves and an amazing selection of courgettes. The Organic Gardening Catalogue is where I go to fill any gaps that are left after I've made other orders and are a realiable supplier of organic seeds. Finally I make a selection of seeds from the Heritage Seed Library - it's always a surprise to see what I'll end up with but I've got high hopes for bagging some exciting tomatoes and beetroots from the request that I've made.
• Next I like to make a plan of what I'm going to plant when. I have a notebook where I make a month by month plan of what can go in when. This may seem a little military to some people but if you're growing more than a couple of different seeds it's a good way of keeping on top of things. I also find it the best way to manage succession planting so that we get the longest possible season of eating delicious, allotment fresh produce.

So there you go - tabletop gardening in four easy stages. And if this conceptual gardening isn't enough to cheer you up on a cold, winter's night don't forget... it's only a couple of weeks before you need to start getting your chilli seeds planted so the real life gardening can commence again very soon.

Worth The Weight

When we first moved to our house nearly five years ago the thing that we really loved was the garden. We only live in a little terraced house but the garden was remarkably generous for a property of its size. The only problem was that the whole thing was covered in horrible concrete tiles that needed to be moved - quite a job I can tell you! What we didn't know was that the concrete was hiding a real surprise... When we moved it we discovered that it had been laid on top of loads of lovely old York Stone tiles! What good luck?

As soon as we saw the stone we knew that it would be perfect to make the paths that we wanted to make in our new garden, so we stacked it all up ready to be laid down when we needed it. The only problem with York Stone is that it is very, very heavy - we actually worked out that one of the really big stones must weigh close to a quarter of a ton! The other problem that we had was that the stone has often got in the way as we made our garden so we have had to move it several times in the process of creation. That's why today was such a special day because we finally got to lay the stones in their final resting place and (hopefully...) that means we should never have to move them again.

Now, looking out on our lovely garden it's hard to imagine that it was ever covered in concrete and that it hasn't always been the haven for plants and wildlife that it is now. I'll post a picture as soon as we've made the finishing touches next week. But in the meantime, here's a picture of Jo laying the very last stone, in its very last resting place. Phew! It's been a long time getting here but now that the garden looks so lovely it all feels worth it. And I can still hardly believe our luck that the last residents in our house were lazy enough to leave behind all the stone that is now such a feature in our garden instead of moving. It just goes to show that it's amazing what unexpected delights you can come across digging around in your garden.

Time To Get Started

With Spring just around the corner this is often the time of year that people start thinking about having a go at growing veg for the very first time. If this is you here are some tips that I would give to the first time veg grower to help you get started.

1. Love your soil - The more attention that you lavish on your soil at this time of year, the better, bigger, healthier, tastier plants you will be rewarded with later on. Now is the perfect time to get hold of a load of well rotted manure or compost and get it onto your beds ready for when you start planting.
2. Make space for wildlife - A plot that is a haven for wildlife will also be a great place to grow things. Make room for toads who'll eat slugs, bees who will pollinate your crops, hover flies who will eat aphids, and any other little friends that will help to make your plot a happy and balanced place for growing.
3. Grow things that you like eating - Sounds obvious, but if you don't like something don't spend time and effort growing it. Pick the things that you really love eating and that are hard to buy in the shops and concentrate your energy on growing them. A couple of my favourites are sweetcorn, tomatoes and broad beans which really can't be beaten when picked and cooked fresh.
4. Start small - this is a particular problem for people with a big plot of land to work. If you can't cultivate it all in your first year don't worry! The most important thing is to get a little area going and make sure that you grow at least one thing that you want to eat. Then the taste of success will be a great motivator to get going on bigger things in future seasons.
5. Keep on top of weeding - weeding can be a bore but it can also be a great job to empty your mind of worries or stresses after a long day at work. The best way to tackle it is to do it little and often so that you are always one step ahead of the weeds and they don't get too invasive.
6. Enjoy yourself - cultivating any vegetable plot can be hard work but it is also great fun so make sure that you find plenty of time to enjoy yourself and enjoy the fruits of your labour. Buy a deckchair and make sure you use it!

Good luck!