Shed heaven

This morning I have finally put the potting shed to its proper use.   I have spent a blissful session potting on plants, sowing seeds and re- arranging my lovely seedlings on the staging. It’s raining outside (and filling the new water butts) and I can’t believe my luck.   All the room. No leaks, no creatures biting me.   Plenty of bench space to fill my pots and trays, three containers for watering the finished product. All the labels in the right place, pencils and paper at hand to make notes.   And the wonderful view outside the window whenever I need a break.

Goodness I’m gushing. But it’s great. I have potted on coriander, amni visnaga, salad mesclun mix, spinach picasso, winter gem lettuce, a new cabbage variety called  caramba and trays and trays of rocket.   And once I’ve necked this huge cup of tea, I’ll sow seeds.

This is the first rain in the region in four weeks, so wonderfully welcoming. And it’s only falling lightly but steadily. Perfect for my newly applied mulch around the soft fruit orchard. One heavy downpour and I would have lost the lot.

And here’s the tally from this afternoon’s mighty sowing session: verbena rigida, crambe, berkeya purpurea, helenium autumn lollipop, asparagus beans, nasturtium milkmaid and black velvet, cosmos tall sensation (just as an insurance policy against all the self sowings which I hope will happen in the lower potager again this year), euphorbia marginata, rudbeckia cherry brandy, nicotiana sylvestris and deep purple, swiss chard (naturally) lettuce Yugoslavian red, euphorbia marginata icicle, stachys silky fleece, cucumber marketer, and dare I say it, morning glory sunrise serenade.

Now I know that last one  will have Jan and Arch falling off the sofa in shock.   They suffer from morning glory as  an invasive nasty plant that would engulf the house if they held off hacking it back for even one season in Sydney.   But here the winter will kill it off. Honest. And I’m only  planting it so that it will climb up the poles of the half barrel in the middle of the vegetable garden. I will treat it with kid gloves.

As a final task I removed all the potatoes from their sacks (charlotte, ratte and juliet) and have moved them into boxes to chit.

I was stunned by the price of seed potatoes here in France. I had to shell out 20 euros for just a few kilos of the ratte variety.   It’s my attempt at planting a more suitable spud to the beloved pink fir apples.   I yearn for them, but it just doesn’t rain enough here to get a decent crop.   So the French bred Ratte it is.

Oh, yes, and I have placed all the planting sticks out that I want to paint tomorrow. I just know that in about three months time I will walk past a lavender or a cistus and wonder what it is called. Hopefully these Andrew inspired labels will help me along.