seedy and snowy days

The holiday at home continues....the snow that was promised over the weekend arrived yesterday...

and there was more last night and this morning.

The weather is in a capricious mood today. One minute snow is falling with a sideways swipe, there's a biting wind. Five minutes later the sun is out...making everywhere look fresh and clean....

and then rewind....the snow is back.

All the gardening both at home and on the allotment I'd planned has had to take a back seat.  With so much to be done, it's frustrating.

I can still sow seeds though. Broad beans and Alderman  peas were already sown a few weeks back and are tucked up in the cold frame and plastic greenhouse outside.

But there's lots more to sow....these I got from Seedy Sunday at the beginning of the month.


An annual event, it's held in a nearby village....we all take a few packets of seed....and you get vouchers for each packet to swap with what else is there. It's very busy, with lots of jostling to get close to the seeds on offer..there's lots of people talking plants, the composting gurus from leicestershire County Council are there along with my favourite stallholders, volunteers from the Heritage Seed Library.

They're so knowledgeable, so enthusiastic ..I could talk to them for ages...but in the end come away with two lots of peas.

Peas are in the top three of my favourite crops to grow. Eyewateringly expensive to buy in the shops when fresh, I just love their sweetness, and crunchiness when eaten raw.

Clarke's Beltony Blue - which is a wrinkled heirloom variety of pea and was donated by Mrs Anderson. It was grown on her great grandfather’s farm in Co. Tyrone since at least 1850 (but possibly as far back as 1815). Apparently it's tall, with beautiful pale pink and rich maroon flowers followed by purple pods .Can't wait to see these grow.

As for the purple flowering russian peas ....they were brought back from Russia by a lady called Valerie Fordham -they're tall with pink and purple flowers.

I'm also growing again this year peas I've been saving each year for a while...they're yellow mange tout peas, ...yes, yellow mange tout! They're described as being incredibly rare...I got them from the Real Seed Company about four years ago...and with the exception of last year, they've done me proud.


There's some interesting varieties of beans I'm going to sow this year too.
I've bought some of Sarah Raven's organic Speedy Dwarf French beans ..which I've not grown before , but only take sixty days to mature.

From Seedy Sunday , I managed to get some of Mr fearn's Purple Flowering climbing beans..
I got these just for the name really, but have since found out that “They grow very well in a cold greenhouse – avoid hot sun or outside growing". That's from the donor Bernard Fearne who's been growing them since the war. ...but unfortunately I haven't got a cold greenhouse . I'll give them a whirl though....

But perhaps I'll do better with the "Sarah's Old fashioned black". I couldn't resist trying these too as although they come from Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, it's said that these beans seem to thrive in the British climate.

My seed stash this year seems to be larger than usual....so lots more sowing to do..but I'm also planning to visit the Edible Garden Show at Stoneleigh this weekend,  the only national event dedicated to growing your own fruit, vegetables and home produce.  Will I see you there?
http://www.theediblegardenshow.co.uk/


So the stash will no doubt get bigger....as Oscar Wilde wrote "I can avoid everything except temptation." And with so many exhibitors there, I know I won't come home empty handed.

Today's track is from New Zealanders The Black Seeds.....I kept humming this song as I wrote about Sarah's Old fashioned Black seeds...

I love this band, especially after seeing them last year here... http://thinkingofthedays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/summer-sundae-days.html

This song is called fire...recorded live in Denver...

 

reaping the rewards

This has to be one of the most infuriating growing seasons ever. Rain, wind, and sheer cold has meant that so many vegetables I'm growing are so very far behind.

There's nothing worse in life than those awful heart stopping moments when you're really late for an event or work.It puts me out of kilter for the rest of the day.....playing catch up. It makes me feel anxious.

 And I feel like that this year about my vegetable growing. I'm already worrying that this year won't be a good one produce wise - especially when this year it means so much. I'm taking my food challenge very seriously and am relying on what I grow to help me achieve my target this year -that 80 per cent of what I eat has to come from Leicestershire and Rutland.

The good news is that Leicestershire is now officially out of drought measures. I'm pleased...I  really am, but the lashing down of rain virtually every day in April has put the kibosh on my potato planting schedule down on the allotment.

Digging in claggy, bog like conditions is not high on my list of all time pleasures...and my dears....my language! Still,  swearing like a trooper at the rain, the ground and anything within a 100 yard exclusion zone did make me feel better!

So no new potatoes in late June for me....oh no, and the first sowings of peas aren't going to be ready  until at least six weeks after last years. This time last year, a huge crop of Alderman peas were standing tall (six foot high) and proud and almost ready to be picked.

At the moment, they're still sitting snugly in my cold frame along with beans, beans and more beans, plus sweetcorn, pumpkins and next years purple sprouting broccoli in the little plastic greenhouse.

But it's not all doom and gloom. May I introduce the stars of the allotment at the moment which are the pounds  of gorgeous purple sprouting broccoli - I picked two pounds worth today

 and pounds and pounds of rhubarb. Six pounds of the stuff in one picking....

There's something about those first bowls of stewed rhubarb with the addition of star anise, the promise of rhubarb jam next week and perhaps trying a new recipe which I haven't been given yet.It's from a friend of a friend, and allegedly it's the best rhubarb relish/chutney ever.

Can't wait......and can't wait to plant out all those beans.But frost is still being forecast so patience is a virtue.......

How do farmers and commercial growers cope with the vagaries of the English weather? Whoever you are, wherever you are, I take my hat off to you!