Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Prelude to a new Season

Yet again I've been meaning to write for weeks but haven't managed to get around to it. In a way I'm rather pleased as it was going to be a bit of a spleen vent of the loss of all my second crop potatoes to blight.
On the bright side, I can report a good crop of sprouts, and a few peppers - yes the plants did produce a few eventually, even though they weren't very big.
I'm now looking forward to 2007. All my seed potatoes have been ordered and I've received two varieties, Pink Fir Apple and Charlotte, delivered with my new Super7 electric windowsill propogator. This has of course meant sorting power out for the greenhouse but then we can't have everything, can we.
Given my lack of ground space, the pink fir apple are all going in bins. I'll also plant one bin of Maris Bard, one of Charlotte, and one with the Anya I had left from last year.
Carrots will be done in much the same way as last year, although I've managed to acquire five steel waste bins approx 12" square and 16" deep which I shall convert for carrot growing.
Given my poor germination of parsnips, Scorzonera, and ground sown carrots last year, my next project is a cloche based upon a design by Geoff Hamilton of BBC gardeners world fame. I'm also hope to get some 4m wide agricultural polythene for the frames at the allotment so I can use them as cloches as I did last year.
My other experiment for the year is going to be Jerusalem Artichoke, inspired by the new BBC series "Grow Your Own Veg". Whilst not a fan of Carol Klein this looks to be an interesting vegetable to try.
Think that's about it for now. See you all later in the year.