Finished stock-taking my seed packets last night - ahead of nailing down a shopping list with the new Kings seed catalogue - and managed to throw out 20 odd packets of seeds from my old biscuit tin. A few of them were unopened, but after experiencing some difficulties and frustration with low germination rates of 'close to their end of life' seeds this summer, I decided to clear things out and make sure next years plantings are from seeds that are as fresh as possible.
Although I do feel I bit wasteful, it is a timely reminder [to echo Eric's warning to me last year at seed catalogue time] "not to over-order on packets", but as a lot of the junked items were inherited from my father-in-law after one of his own biscuit tin clear-outs ["sow by 2009"!!!], I don't feel too bad about it.
Clean slate achieved, now I can concentrate on planning for next year and filling the gaps in my seed box with some different, but recommended, varieties - I'm looking to supplement the usual core crops with some exciting variety. For example, I've already highlighted Crystal Lemon cucumbers to grow alongside the usual Burpless and a couple of unusual, but apparently very tasty and flavoursome, squash: Uchiki Kuri & Crown Prince
Early February - Blustery & Grey
Newly dug over square beds 07/02/11
Showing posts with label seed order. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seed order. Show all posts
Friday, 2 September 2011
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Know your onions
Onion 1: "Hello, I'm Hercules!"
Onion 2: "Hello, I'm Sturon!"
Onion 1: "Where's Centurion?"
Onion 2: "He didn't make it."
The postman delivered my 2nd seed order from E.W.King & Co. Ltd yesterday. The centrepiece of the bulging jiffy was a pair of 500g white onion set bags. One Sturon bag, one Hercules F1 bag. Last year we grew Sturons and they were magnificent - the envy of my allotment neighbours. Medium sized bulbs, excellent quality globe-shaped, clear white flesh, strong flavour and a low attrition rate is terms of both losses in the ground and post-lifting storage in the garage. After asking the advice of Barry The New Head Of Our Allotment Society and a couple of allotment-focused tweeters, I've gone with them again this year. This ticks the allotment rule box of "if it grows well on your plot one year, then it probably loves your soil type and you should grow it again".
But there is a second allotment rule box that must be ticked: "in your first few years you should experiment with different varieties to see which does best on your plot". After a careful selection policy of eeny-meany-minee-mo, I've gone with Hercules F1 over Centurion F1. The deciding factor was the internet blurb on the Dobies of Devon site that Hercules put down their roots fast - something that didn't happen with our red onions last year and that ultimately stunted the crop. Hercules apparently offer an earlier yield than Sturon and have a yellow and mild flesh.
E.W. King offer both varieties at a bargain £2.45 per 500g bag and the two bags together should give at least 25m worth of onion rows. We'll be looking to get all the sets in the ground this weekend, weather permitting.
Centurion will rotate in next year, replacing the weaker of this years performers.
Onion 1: "Did you hear that?! If we don't perform we're in for the chop!"
Onion 2: "The way I understand it, if we DO perform we'll still be in for the chop... and the slice!"
The rest of the jiffy bag featured:
Tomatoes = Ferline, Harbinger and Gardener's Delight (all of which should do well outside)
Leeks = Jolant and Blue Solaise (my Christmas present book The River Cottage 4 - Veg Patch reckons that growing leeks from seed is dead easy, so we're going to give it a go with these early and late varieties)
Sweetcorn = Early Extra Sweet F1 (last year these failed but that was due to them not going in early enough, so I've changed my mind since November and decided to try again)
Celeriac = Giant Prague (some books say these are difficult to grow, others say easy, so we'll roll the dice on these this Summer and see what happens)
Pepper = Hungarian Wax (I'm hoping this is a the Hot Wax variety - for growing indoors rather than on the plot)
Calendula = Orange King (aka Marigold - the classic companion flower and a deliberate attempt to increase the interest of my daughter in the plot)
All of these are of course on top of my order made at the end of last year, which means I have way too much seed.
Onion 1 & 2: "A lot of it will keep for next year too!"
Onion 2: "Hello, I'm Sturon!"
Onion 1: "Where's Centurion?"
Onion 2: "He didn't make it."
The postman delivered my 2nd seed order from E.W.King & Co. Ltd yesterday. The centrepiece of the bulging jiffy was a pair of 500g white onion set bags. One Sturon bag, one Hercules F1 bag. Last year we grew Sturons and they were magnificent - the envy of my allotment neighbours. Medium sized bulbs, excellent quality globe-shaped, clear white flesh, strong flavour and a low attrition rate is terms of both losses in the ground and post-lifting storage in the garage. After asking the advice of Barry The New Head Of Our Allotment Society and a couple of allotment-focused tweeters, I've gone with them again this year. This ticks the allotment rule box of "if it grows well on your plot one year, then it probably loves your soil type and you should grow it again".
But there is a second allotment rule box that must be ticked: "in your first few years you should experiment with different varieties to see which does best on your plot". After a careful selection policy of eeny-meany-minee-mo, I've gone with Hercules F1 over Centurion F1. The deciding factor was the internet blurb on the Dobies of Devon site that Hercules put down their roots fast - something that didn't happen with our red onions last year and that ultimately stunted the crop. Hercules apparently offer an earlier yield than Sturon and have a yellow and mild flesh.
E.W. King offer both varieties at a bargain £2.45 per 500g bag and the two bags together should give at least 25m worth of onion rows. We'll be looking to get all the sets in the ground this weekend, weather permitting.
Centurion will rotate in next year, replacing the weaker of this years performers.
Onion 1: "Did you hear that?! If we don't perform we're in for the chop!"
Onion 2: "The way I understand it, if we DO perform we'll still be in for the chop... and the slice!"
The rest of the jiffy bag featured:
Tomatoes = Ferline, Harbinger and Gardener's Delight (all of which should do well outside)
Leeks = Jolant and Blue Solaise (my Christmas present book The River Cottage 4 - Veg Patch reckons that growing leeks from seed is dead easy, so we're going to give it a go with these early and late varieties)
Sweetcorn = Early Extra Sweet F1 (last year these failed but that was due to them not going in early enough, so I've changed my mind since November and decided to try again)
Celeriac = Giant Prague (some books say these are difficult to grow, others say easy, so we'll roll the dice on these this Summer and see what happens)
Pepper = Hungarian Wax (I'm hoping this is a the Hot Wax variety - for growing indoors rather than on the plot)
Calendula = Orange King (aka Marigold - the classic companion flower and a deliberate attempt to increase the interest of my daughter in the plot)
All of these are of course on top of my order made at the end of last year, which means I have way too much seed.
Onion 1 & 2: "A lot of it will keep for next year too!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)