Brassica factory

Garden updates , 0 Comments

tulips emergingAh, so lovely to be back. I refuse to comment on how cold and grey it is: quite similar to London in fact.   But there’s a big difference. I am outside and in the garden.

I had time to do a lap and look and see all the bulbs pushing up through the grass.   It looks to be a good daffodil and tulip crop this year. Can’t wait.

And then once I realised I couldn’t do much in the cold, I went into my lovely potting shed to water all the seedlings, remove the plastic bags from the seeds that germinated. daffs emerging

And then settled down to potting on my wonderfully reliable cavallo nero cabbage plants.   By late afternoon I had done 120 plants.   Some are for Andrew, but most will go in the top vegetable garden as I have plenty of room up there for such crops.

I was reluctant to go in: so quickly painted a second coat on all the plant labels that are now a fetching sage green.

tulips in plantersNot much else to report. It’s always hard on the first day as I fade early. Choosing to get at 515am for an early train means one doesn’t want to stay up late.   Still, I have pulled out the seeds I want to sow this trip. Plenty more veg and a few flowers. This list? Oh, alright:

Parsnip Gladiator, Tomato Gardeners Delight, Bronze Fennel, Red Basil, Siam Queen Basil, Lime Basil, Purple Ruffles Basil (you get the theme here), Scarlet Kale, Coriander, Beefsteak Tomato, Carrot Ulyses,  Nantes, Early Nantes and Cucumber Burpless Tasty Green. I love that last one.   And they were a disaster last year – I didn’t get a decent crop at all. So I’m going to start early and work harder at them.

For the flower garden I have plenty of hyssop to sow, centratherum punctatum (Brazillian button flower), Nicandra physaloises Purple, Salsify, Helianthus Prado Red and Claret, Ammi visnaga and more stachys lanata for the edge of the calabert.

It’s just the most wonderful time of the year for seed packets. You pick and choose and dream and imagine they all germinate and grow lushly in the garden.   Who knows what the spring and summer will bring, but I am hoping for more cucumbers at least.