It is the time of year when everyone is looking at ordering new seeds for the growing year. We should also go through our old packets of all seeds to see what we do and don't have, before we get carried away with ordering new seeds! I'm quite guilty of this. I get very excited when new seed catalogues come through my door and before you know it I've circled enough 'wants' to need a 5-acre farm to grow them all.
Many of our old seeds are still useful. You might ditch some, as you didn't like the taste of the variety, or it didn't grow well etc. And of course some might be out of date and are no longer viable (how old they can be before they no longer germinate).
To find out the viability of seeds isn't that easy. You can find lots of websites talking about viability, but not many list that many of the actual seeds a gardener in the UK may grow. I finally managed to find a really useful seed viability chart from Amateur Gardening magazine (January 2012 issue). I also found a printed copy of the Seed Savers Handbook list (Australian) which someone gave me last year.
I noticed some differences between the two, so have compiled an Excel document listing seed name and the number of years each suggests. Most of the differences are minimal, though I do wonder why one says Chicory has a viability range of 5 years, and the other 8. And Cucumber has been given 5-6 years by Amateur Gardening and 4-10 by Seed Savers! Maybe the different climates (UK and Australia) affect the viability of seeds? And I'm curious to know why Amateur garden left out Chard (which is known as Silverbeet in Australia), given how popular it is in the UK? I guess as it is the same family as Beetroot, the viability must be similar.
Anyhow, I thought my little documents might be useful for other people, so am including them here so others can download them if they find it helpful.
Download Vegetable seeds
Download Herb seeds
If you come across any further useful seed viability lists, I would love to know about them!
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
Sunday, 1 January 2012
First day of the month in the front garden: January 2012
For 2012 I am going to blog about my front garden on the 1st day of each month. I'll follow how it changes over the year, how much food I can produce from the space, and how my development plans are progressing.
I redesigned the front garden in 2010. It is a space of 5m x 4.46m and when we moved in January 2009, it was just a square with various plants haphazardly dotted around, with no paths and no clear idea of what the previous owner was trying to do; or maybe they weren't trying to do anything? You can read about the initial redesign and see how it originally looked in my post from April 2010. The new design has raised beds made from recycled scaffold boards obtained from building sites, and paths with permeable membrane and wood chips on top. This gives it an attractive look and makes it also easily accessible for doing weeding, planting and harvesting.
My overall aim for the front garden, which is based on permaculture principles, is to find a balance between obtaining fruit and vegetable yields, maximising output from a small but south-facing space, whilst including perennials and bulbs, raised beds and clear paths, to help give it some structure and make it attractive all year round.
The front garden is almost full south facing. The path/driveway leading to the front door (above) is a mix of asphalt and paving stones, all of which is breaking up and in poor condition. Although I have plans for this area to get rid of the eyesore and create a lovely path and beds, this is for the future. It's a big job and we need to get a new roof for the house this year! Gardening, sadly, doesn't always come first... In the meantime, last year I let the self sown flowers take over a bit (i.e. hollyhocks & primulas) and personally found this more pleasant that the asphalt, even if it did look a little wild, so will leave it to do the same this year.
It is shaded on the west side by my neighbours, Fung and Simon's, front gardens trees and shrubs. These are kept largely under control, mutually agreed by myself and Fung and Simon, but do still mean that the west side does get shade in the late afternoon. I have planted two pear trees here and an am training them as espaliers. They are only 3 years only and in 2010 I started training the first espalier level on both. I think it will be hard for your to spot them in the photos; you can see 'Onward', just, between the first and 2nd posts. Underneath they are planted with strawberries, as I'm want to maximise the yield from that part of the garden, using forest garden principles. We got a good crop of strawberries from here last summer, so the later afternoon shade doesn't effect the yields coming from the strawberries. I've also under planted the pear trees with a few perennials and spring bulbs, and added winter flowering clematis, Clematis Cirrhosa Freckles and Clematis Cirrhosa Ourika Valley to grow up the trellis so this will be prettier in coming winters (I hope!).
Front garden and path, 1st January 2012
I redesigned the front garden in 2010. It is a space of 5m x 4.46m and when we moved in January 2009, it was just a square with various plants haphazardly dotted around, with no paths and no clear idea of what the previous owner was trying to do; or maybe they weren't trying to do anything? You can read about the initial redesign and see how it originally looked in my post from April 2010. The new design has raised beds made from recycled scaffold boards obtained from building sites, and paths with permeable membrane and wood chips on top. This gives it an attractive look and makes it also easily accessible for doing weeding, planting and harvesting.
My overall aim for the front garden, which is based on permaculture principles, is to find a balance between obtaining fruit and vegetable yields, maximising output from a small but south-facing space, whilst including perennials and bulbs, raised beds and clear paths, to help give it some structure and make it attractive all year round.
Map of layout
The front garden is almost full south facing. The path/driveway leading to the front door (above) is a mix of asphalt and paving stones, all of which is breaking up and in poor condition. Although I have plans for this area to get rid of the eyesore and create a lovely path and beds, this is for the future. It's a big job and we need to get a new roof for the house this year! Gardening, sadly, doesn't always come first... In the meantime, last year I let the self sown flowers take over a bit (i.e. hollyhocks & primulas) and personally found this more pleasant that the asphalt, even if it did look a little wild, so will leave it to do the same this year.
It is shaded on the west side by my neighbours, Fung and Simon's, front gardens trees and shrubs. These are kept largely under control, mutually agreed by myself and Fung and Simon, but do still mean that the west side does get shade in the late afternoon. I have planted two pear trees here and an am training them as espaliers. They are only 3 years only and in 2010 I started training the first espalier level on both. I think it will be hard for your to spot them in the photos; you can see 'Onward', just, between the first and 2nd posts. Underneath they are planted with strawberries, as I'm want to maximise the yield from that part of the garden, using forest garden principles. We got a good crop of strawberries from here last summer, so the later afternoon shade doesn't effect the yields coming from the strawberries. I've also under planted the pear trees with a few perennials and spring bulbs, and added winter flowering clematis, Clematis Cirrhosa Freckles and Clematis Cirrhosa Ourika Valley to grow up the trellis so this will be prettier in coming winters (I hope!). 
Layout from front door
The rest of the front garden can get shade from the large flowering Prunus (on the left of the top photo). We have been pruning it heavily over the last two summers. It's been problematic as it was allowed to grow way too large for the space prior to us moving in, but is beautiful in flower and in autumn. I'm loathe to take it out, as it would be a massive job and expensive, and we do get the yield of small branches from prunings that we dry out and use for kindling.
However, I am thinking it over, as I have been considering whether to remove both the Prunus and the ugly concrete fence on the street side, and plant a hazel nut hedge in it's place. The hazel nut hedge would act as the new 'fence' but also give me a yield in nuts; if I can beat the squirrels to them of course! In the same bed as the Prunus is a Phormium, which I'm not keen on and definitely want to get rid of. It's only staying there until I decided what to do with this border. In the meantime, I have added annuals (teasels) and perennials (heleniums) and some more bulbs to accompany the vinca minor that was already there. It's pretty but a bit of a brute and I found when I grew broad beans in this bed in 2010, that the vinca tried to smother them. So yes, this border definitely needs some rethinking.
The central bed has an obelisk that is beautiful and gives interest even in mid winter. So far I've grown a mix of vegetables (tomatoes and broad beans in 2010, both very successful with excellent yields, plus green manure) amongst annuals, perennials and bulbs. In 2012, the front half of the bed has broad beans and garlic. The back half currently has green manure, and perennial kale will be added late spring. I'll grow some heritage beans that will crop mid summer, up the obelisk, which is also under planted with heleniums that will take over from mid-summer onwards.
The bed next to the asphalt path (to the right in the photograph below) currently has rosemary, sage and irises and a mix of calendula, crocuses and muscari around the edges. In 2011 I used it to also grow a mix of beetroot, chard and spinach. I have planted autumn-sown broad beans for 2012, and will also add tomatoes in May.
Front garden, 1st January 2012
There are also a few containers and planters in the front garden. The big blue pot on the left has a fig, which I am going to pass on. I brought it from our previous house in Witney in 2009, but don't need it as I have a large fruiting one we inherited in the back garden. I'm thinking of putting in a lemon tree in it's place. I thought a lemon tree might do well in this position, as with the south-facing warm brick wall of the house, it should have a slightly warmer and protected micro-climate.
The large planter in front of the bay window has lavender and geranium phaeum, and I will add some sweet peas and nasturtium as I did in 2011. I have tried growing veg in the planter, but it gets so hot and dry that even with constant watering and feeding the yields weren't particularly good. So I planted it up with flowers and shrubs instead, and will concentrate my food yields in the raised beds.
Plans and potential yields for 2012
- Plant some perennial kale in the back half (closer to house) of the central bed. This will yield food and give winter interest.
- Obtain yield from strawberries, broad beans, garlic and tomatoes, plus ongoing yields from herbs (sage and rosemary).
- Investigate costs of removing prunus, concrete fence, and practicalities of putting in hazel nut hedge.
- Continue training the pear tree espaliers.
- Photograph the space at the beginning of each month and track how it changes over the year.
So now, on with the year!
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
Flowering late December
Following the footsteps of other gardeners, such as Patient Gardner and Veg Plotting, I took some photos today of what was still flowering, out of season, this late in the year. These are all from my front garden, which is south-facing. Although the front garden has had frost, it obviously wasn't hard enough to kill off all flowering plants.
The Helenium is more yellow than it's usual orangey-yellow tones, but I can assure you that it is 'Sahin's Early Flowerer'. I would add that it appears to be a perpetual flowerer. This year it started flowering in June and is still going at the end of December. I've had a lot of bunches of flowers for the house and to give to friends, and this wonderful plant just kept on flowering.
On to more muted tones, some of the Verbena Bonariensis still has flowers on it. I leave it over winter as goldfinches love the seeds, and I like it to self seed so I can pot up some free plants to pass on the next year.
Finally, some Lavender, angustifolia 'Hidcote'. As usual, I trimmed all my lavender mid-Autumn to help prepare it for next years flowers. However, being so mild it decided to flower a second time this year.
This time last year everything was under several feet of snow, and these pictures remind us of the changeability of the seasons. As ever, nothing is guaranteed in the garden, there are challenges and new delights every year, every season.
Good old Calendula
The Helenium is more yellow than it's usual orangey-yellow tones, but I can assure you that it is 'Sahin's Early Flowerer'. I would add that it appears to be a perpetual flowerer. This year it started flowering in June and is still going at the end of December. I've had a lot of bunches of flowers for the house and to give to friends, and this wonderful plant just kept on flowering.
Helenium 'Sahin's Early Flowerer'
And good old Calendula again, a yellow variety
On to more muted tones, some of the Verbena Bonariensis still has flowers on it. I leave it over winter as goldfinches love the seeds, and I like it to self seed so I can pot up some free plants to pass on the next year.
Verbena Bonariensis
Finally, some Lavender, angustifolia 'Hidcote'. As usual, I trimmed all my lavender mid-Autumn to help prepare it for next years flowers. However, being so mild it decided to flower a second time this year.
Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote'
Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote'
This time last year everything was under several feet of snow, and these pictures remind us of the changeability of the seasons. As ever, nothing is guaranteed in the garden, there are challenges and new delights every year, every season.
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Choosing heritage seeds
I never fail to get excited about the arrival of the next years Heritage Seed Library (HSL) catalogue. So many choices of wonderful sounding veg, often with great stories behind them. I've been a member for quite a few years now and have even started sending back some seed, such as my favourite pea 'Lativan', which I have written about in the past.
There are several vegetable varieties from HSL that are now favourites at Gwenfar's Lottie. Besides my Lativan Pea, this also includes the Estonian Yellow Mini Cherry, pictured below.
This is incredibly prolific, something like 80-100 little cherry tomatoes on a branch and lots of branches. It also showed some blight resistance, in that when blight hit, not all of the Estonian toms were hit, and even if they were, they kept growing and fruiting anyway. I gave away quite a few batches of these, froze some, and of course ate quite a lot. They are incredibly sweet, just like eating sweets, and with the wonderful colour to go with them. Bursts of sunshine in your mouth!
Another favourite is Lettuce 'Bronze Arrow', and I've met a lot of people at least in Oxford who also love this variety. It's very reliable, has a slightly nutty flavour and is slower to bolt than many lettuces I've tried. I have saved seeds from it this year and will be sowing lots come 2012.
Other favourite HSL varieties include Kale 'Hungry Gap' and another Pea, 'Robinson', which I've also written about previously.
My HSL catalogue for 2012 arrived last week. Like a child in a sweet shop I poured over the varieties on each page, getting excited by such a wonderful range of seeds on offer. As a member you can choose up to 6 varieties, and these are my choices for 2012.
Kale 'Daubenton': dating back to Victorian times, this is apparently a perennial kale and can be treated as a cut and come again veg. I've been thinking about growing more perennial veg in my front garden, to give it a bit more structure as well as an ongoing food crop (I grow a mix of perennial flowers, annual veg, fruit and herbs in the front garden). So this one hit the top of the list.
Brussels Sprouts 'Catskill': coming from the US, it is meant to be robust and be good for both eating fresh and for freezing. I have not tried heritage Brussels before, so thought I'd give it a go.
Broad Bean 'Martock': I couldn't resist this one, it's key attraction being that it was a mainstay of the medieval diet - that's some history! Grown in Somerset for centuries, it was donated to HSL in 1970's after the beans were offered to someone in exchange for a donation to the Bath & Wells cathedral roof restoration. Medieval bean, medieval cathedral - will it suit modern tastes?
Broad Bean 'Red Bristow's': as my friends know, I've got a bit of a thing for red and purple vegetables. I love purple/blue beans (see below), but they usually loose their colour once cooked. These broad beans are meant to stay red even when cooked, and have a delicious taste, so seemed like a good choice for palate and plate.
French Bean 'Blue Coco': I must admit, I just love the name and the fact that it is a purple/blue bean. Ok, I was also attracted by the fact that it is meant to be good in salads and be hardy, reliable and prolific. Oh, and they have purple tinged leaves and lilac flowers. I think this might be another for the front garden.
Dwarf French Bean 'Hutterite Soup': a variety coming from an Austrian religious sect that moved to Canada in the 1750's. I'm more interested in beans for drying to use in winter for soups and stews and this one is meant to be perfect for precisely that reason.
So those are my heritage veg choices for 2012. As all gardeners know, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what it says on the packet, it is how it performs and tastes that really matters. Based on past experience growing heritage varieties, I suspect there will be at least a couple of tasty winners in this selection.
There are several vegetable varieties from HSL that are now favourites at Gwenfar's Lottie. Besides my Lativan Pea, this also includes the Estonian Yellow Mini Cherry, pictured below.
Tomato - Estonian Yellow Mini Cherry
This is incredibly prolific, something like 80-100 little cherry tomatoes on a branch and lots of branches. It also showed some blight resistance, in that when blight hit, not all of the Estonian toms were hit, and even if they were, they kept growing and fruiting anyway. I gave away quite a few batches of these, froze some, and of course ate quite a lot. They are incredibly sweet, just like eating sweets, and with the wonderful colour to go with them. Bursts of sunshine in your mouth!
Another favourite is Lettuce 'Bronze Arrow', and I've met a lot of people at least in Oxford who also love this variety. It's very reliable, has a slightly nutty flavour and is slower to bolt than many lettuces I've tried. I have saved seeds from it this year and will be sowing lots come 2012.
Lettuce 'Bronze Arrow' close to flowering, late August
Other favourite HSL varieties include Kale 'Hungry Gap' and another Pea, 'Robinson', which I've also written about previously.
My HSL catalogue for 2012 arrived last week. Like a child in a sweet shop I poured over the varieties on each page, getting excited by such a wonderful range of seeds on offer. As a member you can choose up to 6 varieties, and these are my choices for 2012.
Kale 'Daubenton': dating back to Victorian times, this is apparently a perennial kale and can be treated as a cut and come again veg. I've been thinking about growing more perennial veg in my front garden, to give it a bit more structure as well as an ongoing food crop (I grow a mix of perennial flowers, annual veg, fruit and herbs in the front garden). So this one hit the top of the list.
Brussels Sprouts 'Catskill': coming from the US, it is meant to be robust and be good for both eating fresh and for freezing. I have not tried heritage Brussels before, so thought I'd give it a go.
Broad Bean 'Martock': I couldn't resist this one, it's key attraction being that it was a mainstay of the medieval diet - that's some history! Grown in Somerset for centuries, it was donated to HSL in 1970's after the beans were offered to someone in exchange for a donation to the Bath & Wells cathedral roof restoration. Medieval bean, medieval cathedral - will it suit modern tastes?
Broad Bean 'Red Bristow's': as my friends know, I've got a bit of a thing for red and purple vegetables. I love purple/blue beans (see below), but they usually loose their colour once cooked. These broad beans are meant to stay red even when cooked, and have a delicious taste, so seemed like a good choice for palate and plate.
French Bean 'Blue Coco': I must admit, I just love the name and the fact that it is a purple/blue bean. Ok, I was also attracted by the fact that it is meant to be good in salads and be hardy, reliable and prolific. Oh, and they have purple tinged leaves and lilac flowers. I think this might be another for the front garden.
Dwarf French Bean 'Hutterite Soup': a variety coming from an Austrian religious sect that moved to Canada in the 1750's. I'm more interested in beans for drying to use in winter for soups and stews and this one is meant to be perfect for precisely that reason.
So those are my heritage veg choices for 2012. As all gardeners know, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what it says on the packet, it is how it performs and tastes that really matters. Based on past experience growing heritage varieties, I suspect there will be at least a couple of tasty winners in this selection.
Saturday, 17 December 2011
Attacking brambles
Spent a couple of good hours in the sun down at the lottie, attacking brambles. Kevin and I were delighted to be joined by our friend Manishta, who for reasons best left to herself, thinks 'brambles are cool'.
Thanks to Manishta's help I am really feeling we are finally starting to really cut into the brambles. This pile Manishta is putting the cuttings on, goes under cover to help dry them out. Probably late January we can have a bonfire and burn them to the ground. Which will be good timing, as where the pile is now is where I'm planning on putting my shed in early Spring.
Of course, it wasn't all girl power. Kevin was a star, attacking bramble roots with great gusto. Or a pick. Or maybe we should call the pick 'great gusto'?
And here is the offending root...
A proud Kevin holding up the root, "I got you, ha ha ha"
To thank Manishta for her work, I dug up some carrots and parsnips for her to take home. One parsnip was very well rooted and when I finally got it out, well, you can see why. That white long thin bit is a part of the root I pulled out. The whole thing was almost a metre long!
A day in the sun at the lottie. Definition of a good time.
Manishta, rugged up and happily cutting up brambles
Thanks to Manishta's help I am really feeling we are finally starting to really cut into the brambles. This pile Manishta is putting the cuttings on, goes under cover to help dry them out. Probably late January we can have a bonfire and burn them to the ground. Which will be good timing, as where the pile is now is where I'm planning on putting my shed in early Spring.
Of course, it wasn't all girl power. Kevin was a star, attacking bramble roots with great gusto. Or a pick. Or maybe we should call the pick 'great gusto'?
Kevin and the pick 'great gusto'
And here is the offending root...
A proud Kevin holding up the root, "I got you, ha ha ha"
To thank Manishta for her work, I dug up some carrots and parsnips for her to take home. One parsnip was very well rooted and when I finally got it out, well, you can see why. That white long thin bit is a part of the root I pulled out. The whole thing was almost a metre long!
A day in the sun at the lottie. Definition of a good time.
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