Sorting out my seeds

My first step towards growing things this year has been to sort out my seeds.  What a jumble of packets to be sorted. There were the empty seed packets, why had I saved those? Then the ones which were past their sow by date and the ones which I tried to grow but failed miserably with. As I sorted through them I remembered last summer, the successes and failures.

The sweetcorn, was easy to get started, grew into lovely cobs but didn't ripen. The french beans got eaten by slugs. The peas and broad beans, well they  were amazing, the cabbages and beetroot  kept us going all year. Carrots, well I'm determined to try to grow carrots which don't get riddled with root fly.  As I looked through last year's seeds I thought about what I wanted to grow this year. I remembered the good and bad from last year and in some cases I was determined to try again where I had failed last year. With some seeds I had to admit defeat. Maybe I didn't have the right soil conditions to grow them.  This is beginning to sound like the parable of the sower!

I like to try growing something new each year and this year I am going to grow fennel (I have some free seeds) and swede. We grew red cabbage last year, I love those purple colours. I'm going to grow them  again this year and  I also want to grow some red lettuce, purple kale and purple climbing beans.

I sow more veg seeds than flower seeds, but the flowers which I grow every year are sweet peas and nasturtium they are so easy to grow. I will also be growing sunflowers and probably cosmos.

I have filed the seeds in a couple of storage boxes in alphabetical order. Last year I arranged them in order of the months when they should be sown. I might do that again once the growing season gets under way.

So I look forward to a new year of growing, to the excitement of seeing seeds germinate and to the nurturing of those seeds.

What are you going to grow this year?

My gardening jobs for February

 

I've been making lists, that's a thing I do a lot. This list is about my gardening jobs for February. As I haven't been able to do much in the garden yet, at least I can plan what I will do when the weather gets warmer.

At the allotment:

• sort out my seeds from last year, see what's still ok to use, plan what we're growing this year and order more seeds
•  buy  onion and garlic sets and get them planted
• prune the autumn fruiting raspberries
• harvest the leeks and brussels sprouts
• dig over any remaining bits of ground

In the garden:

• clear the borders of dead plant material and leaves
• mulch with whatever I can lay my hands on
• prune the apple tree--it's got some odd shaped branches 
• cut back the grasses

Indoors:

• sow seeds of lettuce, beetroot, broad beans and anything else I can sow this month, maybe leeks, cabbage,  sweet peas

As we're now nearly half way through the month that's probably enough to keep me busy for the time being.

The only thing to do is go out for a walk

We're having some pretty cold weather at the moment, but fortunately where I live we haven't had much in the way of snow to disrupt transport and getting out and about. What little we had last weekend has now gone.

We have had some really sunny, but very cold days. Days which deceive you into thinking it's really OK outside until you go out to do something like putting rubbish in the bin or feeding the birds and then you realise how cold it is.

 

On these really cold, sunny days I've often thought how inviting the garden looks and how I would love to be outside doing some gardening. But of course the ground is frozen solid, so I can't do any work out there. I get a bit restless when the weather is dry, but I can't do any gardening.  Sometimes staying indoors and keeping warm isn't enough for me. I need to be outside in open spaces. Today was one of those days, and the only thing to do when this restlessness hits me is to go out for a walk.

It's amazing what half an hour or so of walking can do to calm your mind and lift your spirits.

Garden Crafts for Children--a book review

I recently came across Dawn Isaac's blog  on Fennel and Fern about how she had designed a family garden and  I was so taken by it that I ordered her book, Garden Crafts for Children.  This was a bit of an impulse buy and  not something I normally do, as I like to see books first before I decide whether or not to buy, but I'm glad I did.

I've always been keen to encourage children to get outdoors, take an interest in the garden and wildlife, first with my own children and now with my grandchildren.  I know how difficult it can be sometimes to keep them interested.

This book is full of project ideas for both indoor and outdoor gardening.  You don't need to have a large garden to be able to try them.  A kitchen windowsill, backyard or some containers might be all that's needed. Some of the projects can be done indoors, so are great for bad weather days. Other projects are more adventurous and involve getting messy.

There are the sowing and growing projects like making a cress caterpillar, a microleaves farm, a climbing bean archway or a herb tower. I think my 2 grandsons would love to make the Tyrannosaurus garden, made using an old tyre, planted up with ferns, moss, rocks and plastic dinosaur figures.

There are some great ideas for presents to make, like pressed flower placemats,  herbal bath bags, scented flower soaps, a Mother's Day teapot or  spring flower basket. The insect hotel and the pine cone bird feeder are good for encouraging the wildlife to visit your garden.

The book is well set out with plenty of photographs and easy to follow step by step instructions. These fun and creative projects are a great way to help children to learn more about gardening.
I can see this book being a hit with both young and old. In fact I think I'd quite like to try making the alpine wreath.

Growing salad

I've been wanting to make a  start sowing vegetable seeds recently, but I know that it's too early to start doing that here in East Lancashire. Especially as I don't have a heated greenhouse, or even any greenhouse for that matter.

So when I came across the 52 Week Salad Challenge I felt inspired to have a go at growing some early salad leaves. I'm a bit late getting into this challenge as I only started last week.  I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up with the challenge all year, but I'm finding it really helpful so far reading all the different posts and getting ideas on what I can grow so early in the year on a warm windowsill indoors. I especially like Fennel and Fern , Carl Legge   and Veg plotting  for really useful information and growing tips.

I started by looking through my collection of seeds and found plenty of lettuce and salad leaves, some beetroot and spinach beet. I'm hoping I can grow these for micro leaves.  I went to the garden centre and bought a packet of sprouting seeds of red cabbage.  Then I got started sowing seeds.  We don't have much space on our kitchen windowsill for seed trays, so some of them are on the spare bedroom windowsill. I just have to remember to check them and water regularly and keep sowing more seeds.

So far I have cut some of the red cabbage seedlings to sprinkle over a tomato and cucumber salad.

salad leaves

beetroot seedlings

spinach beet

I also looked around the garden to see if there was anything growing in the veg beds, not really expecting to find anything. But lo and behold I'd forgotten I have kale and red cabbage growing both in the garden and down at the allotment. I've never used kale in salads, but I know the young leaves can be used in this way, so I'll probably give it a try.

Are you sowing any salad seeds at the moment?