Tag Archives: cheap seeds

Coming to the end of the road

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It’s cold and miserable out there and the garden is in a right state even though it looked a lot better earlier this year. The butternut squash (above) that was making a late start has fallen by the wayside and now looks a right mess.

In the forthcoming weeks there may be a day where it may be dry enough to give the lawn a cut and even give the beds a tidy over. Remember the more work you do now means less work come the spring and the garden will look a lot easier on the eye over the winter. Trouble is when the garden looks a bit ropey you have less chance of putting on those gardening boots but we will try as the wild bit at the bottom (above) does look a bit wild and look at the pond (below). The word neglect comes to our guilty gardening minds.

Got any ideas of what you’ll be growing next year? We’re now on the lookout for any seed swaps, seed bargains or plants on the cheap. If you know of anything as in cheap seeds or events do let us know and we’ll blog them up.

Is it working yet?

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So life’s been railing against us again what with WordPress giving up the ghost here but we’re back!

up our straßeI picked up a great book from the library last week, Veg Street (Grow your own community) – Namomi Schillinger – Short Books which is well suited to us at weeds. There’s stuff on how to set up a community gardening group, front garden vegetable growing and lots of tips and tricks in a shoestring style. It goes over the basics, soil types, pricking out, composting, gardening terminology etc in a no nonsense style, making it perfect for the beginner grower or someone who knows a bit too. I was so influenced by the idea of recycling mad things as plant containers (there’s pictures of suitcases and even tennis ball tubes as veggie plant pots!) I got the old cat basket out of the loft, lined it with an old multi-purpose compost bag and stuck some pea seeds in it for some late season pea-shoots (another influence from the book.) Have a look for it as it’s inspiring! cat basket Also I’ve been going into various Robert Dyas stores of late who are doing all their seeds half price as it’s at the end of the season. I’ve been sticking in spring onion, carrots and even beetroot now as you never know what the weather will be like in weeks to come and you’ve nothing to lose. At worse you’ll get baby carrots and small spring onions and even if the beets don’t form at least you can use the leaves in a salad. Keep em peeled! cheap seeds cheap seeds

Super black market clash

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grow man grow!It’s great what you can pick up cheap at a market. Yesterday I had a mooch at the out of date magazine stall at Leather Lane and found a gardening one from April 2012 with a free pack of 5 varieties of brassica seeds on the front. There’s purple sprouting broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, calabrese and kale, all for the bargain price of a quid, how good is that? There’s also an article  about egyptian walking onions in it, something I’ve been thinking about trying next year. Definitely keep ’em peeled!

howling at the moon Also, today through the post I got the 2013 edition of Maria and Matthias Thun’s Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar. Big thanks to our good mate Scarlett Cannon for getting us into the old biodynamics lark. It might be bonkers but it’s costs nothing extra to try (that’s what we like!) and it’s something that hasn’t done us too badly this year even with the rubbish weather we’ve had. The latest guide has a nice piece on Maria, who passed away earlier this year at the grand old age of 89. A book worth having a butchers at (and it comes with a handy wallchart too!), available for around £7.

Finally a big thanks to everyone who has got in touch with us and had a butchers at the blog this year. A big festive greetings and best of luck in the garden for 2013 to all!