I can see the back wall of my potting shed again!

Do you marvel at people with neat sheds and workshops, with immaculate tools set out, gleaming and ready for the next job? I don't know how they do it, my shed seems to have its own force-field, not repelling  but attracting every manner of junk to its heart, slowly but surely accumulating such quantities of rubbish that I can barely open the door and shove a fork or rake in there before swiftly securing the door again.

Well, today, not being wet for a change, I was able to empty it all out (now I know what that smell was: a dead mouse) busily brushing corners that had lain undiscovered seemingly since the last ice age. It is now the perfect example of horticultural order, at least until the force-field once again draws all unto itself.

Organic Advice and Information

I am always on the lookout for information about organic gardening and (through Google+) I came into contact with James Middleton who runs the really informative blog on anything organic gardening or allotmenting. Don't just take my word for it, have a look here

As you've probably noticed, if you can't eat it, I tend not to write about it, but James covers much more ground (hopefully not with weeds), it even seems to tie in quite nicely with the seasons. Nice one James!

First Snow

The temperature outside (and in the unheated greenhouse) is half a degree above freezing, and when I looked out of the window this morning, what did I see, but a light sprinkling of snow. Just as well Mrs Soggy took the net off one of the broad bean beds.

Light sprinkling of snow

Signs of life in the wood

Not my veggie patch - enjoyed a walk in nearby woods this morning, with lots of bulbs reaching up through the fallen leaves and amongst them this bold display of snowdrops.

January Snowdrops

Happy Christmas

I have just been out gathering some veggies to go with Christmas dinner. Despite the odd summer and such a wet year here in south west England, we still seem to have lots of good veggies in the garden to see us through.

Some of the leeks are also going for a lovely leek and barley broth which is cooking right now, even as I type.

Parsnips, leeks and Brussels Sprouts, gathered this morning

I prepare the sprouts in the garden - letting the trimmings rot back into the ground

Wherever you are reading this blog, and whatever you have on your plate this Christmas, I hope it  is a good one for you and that we all enjoy a good year's gardening in 2013. 

Potato Blight

I seem to be posting comments on Twitter more than here, and there was an interesting exchange of tweets including Monty Don, about potato blight, or more especially the voice of corporate thinking, expressing a view on the subject, as reported in the Telegraph:

"Allan Stevenson, Chairman of the Potato Council, told trade journal The Grocer, that people should be buying potatoes from the supermarket rather than growing their own as this may help spread blight."

For more see here

It makes you wonder what kind of world view these people have doesn't it?

There are many options available to small-scale growers, not least growing blight resistant varieties (my Sarpo Mira rows came through, whereas less resistant ones succumbed).

With changes in weather patterns  and perhaps more frequent wet summers, we may spend more time living with "Smith periods" so everyone needs to brush up on combating blight - and no, that does not mean giving up growing potatoes, but is may mean thinking differently.

A site worth looking into (I registered):

Blightwatch

Genetically Modified

In recent months I have noticed a trend from reasonable-sounding GM scientists to suggest that GM is just a continuation of what breeders have always done, namely to select for desired features or to exclude others.
Reasonable they may have sounded, but I haven't believed them. Gregor Mendel, did not introduce alien genes into the sweet peas he was studying; a fact I am sure GM scientists will know well. Therefore their assertions appear at best disingenuous.
Don't just take my word for this: people at King's College, involved in GM, have published research about GM and some of the benefits and safety claims made for it. You can find a summary and link to full report here. You may find that everything is not what it seems!

Peat-free compost

Our chance to join the debate, reported on a very interesting blog

Early Potatoes

We have dug some Charlotte, Accent and Foremost potatoes. This picture compares the crop from one plant each of Accent and Foremost (we've eaten the Charlotte!). They are grown in exactly the same way, in the same bed and each were chitted. You can see Foremost did not thrive here (they may well do elsewhere).

Foremost potatoes on left, Accent on right

Busy time

This is much more a time of year for being in the garden rather than writing about it, it was even more busy for us, as we took part in the village Open Gardens Day, so we had to do some tidying beyond what we'd normally bother with - we like the natural "lived-in" look! As it happened, it really poured down on the day, though quite a few hardy people still visited - maybe it was Mrs Soggy's cakes that attracted them - probably much more so than my rows of veggies.

At this time of year I am busy succession sowing, even so, I think I may have got the timing wrong on the lettuces - with the outdoor ones not coming on as fast as I thought - we are having strange weather at the minute - feels more like winter - it was down to 6C last night.

Recent sowings:
CARROT Amsterdam Forcing (That was to make up for lots of gaps where something has been eating my carrot seedlings at the 2 leaf stage).
CAULIFLOWER Medaillon F1
CAULIFLOWER Snowball
LAMBS LETTUCE Valerianella Locusta
LETTUCE Amorina
LETTUCE Belize
LETTUCE Mixed
LETTUCE Lollo Rossa
LETTUCE Red Salad Bowl
LETTUCE Valmaine
PAK CHOI China Choi


I also push in extra beans and peas just to get some succession with them too. We have been eating sugar snap and mange tout for a while, but nothing but flowers on some of the climbing beans yet.
BEAN CLIMBING Borlotta Lingua di Fuoco
BEAN CLIMBING Fasold
BEAN CLIMBING Neckar Queen


BEAN, Broad. Aquadulce Claudia (We have been eating and freezing these, delicious)


PEA Asparagus (The flowers look very nice on these)
PEA Mange Tout Norli
PEA Early Onward
PEA Rapido Petit Pois
PEA Sugar Ann
PEA Sugar Snap LARGE


Finally, the bank along the edge of the veggie patch is looking very good now with the trees cut down, lots more light. I sowed two packets of mixed wild flower seeds there, one of annuals, the other of perennials - both from Little Groves nursery. The bees are loving the flowers.

Cottage Flower garden on Open Day - summerhouse full!

Open Day again - see the rain in my compost tray!

The bank, with trees taken down and wild flowers thriving

More of a very soggy Open Day