Monday, February 27, 2012

Clochetastic

This weekend I took delivery of two new cloches for the suburban veg plot. They're not brand new and seem to be more 'vintage style' than actual 'vintage' (the strip along the top is plastic). But they're very lovely and came from a nice man in Derbyshire via Ebay. Also via my mother (who lives 20 minutes from the nice man) and then via my sister, who brought them with her on a flying visit to us. And I still owe my mother £20 for them.
So, all in all a pretty good deal - free cloches with free delivery.... (though I promise I'll settle up next time I see my mother). They're now in place warming the soil where the parsnips will go.


Saturday, February 25, 2012

how heavy...?

is too heavy, in terms of eggs?
There was a lot of squawking from the nest box while this one was being produced and Snowflake is only a little chicken...



Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Protestant potatoes...

So the new seed potatoes arrived the week before last - after a small delay due to the weather...




This year I've ordered a first early variety called Ulster Classic - in honour of the hubby's Belfast roots. We grew some towards the end of the season last year - planted them in early August with the intention of getting Christmas potatoes but got late blight in October so had to harvest them. The yield was surprisingly high, though there were lots of mini ones. But they tasted lovely and so I decided to order the same ones for this year. 
They've been chitting in the cool spare bedroom for about a week now and have started putting out little green and purple shoots. 


The bed they're going in still has baby leeks and savoy cabbages in it, but I'll be harvesting the last of those shortly. 
First earlies should be planted between Feb and April, for harvest May to July. I'll start warming up the soil in the raised bed with a cloche and plant them within the next 4 weeks.


Friday, February 10, 2012

Let love blossom...


Next week sees the staging of the 2-day RHS London Plant and Design Show and as one of the days coincides with Valentine's Day, the RHS are putting on an evening speed dating event among the exhibits at Lawrence Hall. Thirty participants will be meeting and mingling around the displays to see if Cupid's arrow is set to strike. There's still time to sign up (details here) and entry is covered by the main event ticket (so free, if you're an RHS member). Will you meet a hunk by the heucharas? a vamp by the verbenas? a geek near a galanthus? or a wallflower hiding among the...um....wallflowers?