As September rapidly approaches, a gardener's thoughts turn to the next season, and seed catalogues start to pop through letterboxes, to be pored over in great detail over breakfast.
I'm probably a little early in getting stuck into the business of seeds, but I've only just ordered the 2008 Jungle Seeds catalogue, so I'm allowing myself some excitement (not least because there's a sale on!).
It was not a great vegetable year. The purple sprouting broccoli got eaten. The radishes were small and bitter. The elephant garlic has never materialised and is probably rotting away fertilising my dinosaur gourds. The strawberries managed one tiny, sour berry before the squirrels took care of all but one plant. The potatoes were small but tasty, and there is a chance I'll get a few tomatilloes. If the tomatoes ripen they will be my best crop.
But it's too much for me to do in containers. I only have the time, space and money to do one thing well - Jurassic Park or vegetables. And I choose Jurassic Park. I've set up my heated propagator on the kitchen windowsill (and am currently trying to burn off the fur on the cycad seeds), ready for any autumn sowings.
So what to buy? Well, top of the list is more dinosaur gourds. They're a silly novelty plant, but I've loved having climbers and I want some more to train up the brick wall. Having in all likelihood killed my Banksia I'm going to get a packet of Banksia marginata. I'd also like to try my hand at Magnolia grandiflora - otherwise I'm going to spend a lot of money on a larger specimen. And maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but with a Sequoiadendron giganteum and a Metasequoia glyptostroboides I really have to grow a Sequoia sempervirens.
And all that is before the 2009 Chiltern Seeds catalogue comes out!!
I'm probably a little early in getting stuck into the business of seeds, but I've only just ordered the 2008 Jungle Seeds catalogue, so I'm allowing myself some excitement (not least because there's a sale on!).
It was not a great vegetable year. The purple sprouting broccoli got eaten. The radishes were small and bitter. The elephant garlic has never materialised and is probably rotting away fertilising my dinosaur gourds. The strawberries managed one tiny, sour berry before the squirrels took care of all but one plant. The potatoes were small but tasty, and there is a chance I'll get a few tomatilloes. If the tomatoes ripen they will be my best crop.
But it's too much for me to do in containers. I only have the time, space and money to do one thing well - Jurassic Park or vegetables. And I choose Jurassic Park. I've set up my heated propagator on the kitchen windowsill (and am currently trying to burn off the fur on the cycad seeds), ready for any autumn sowings.
So what to buy? Well, top of the list is more dinosaur gourds. They're a silly novelty plant, but I've loved having climbers and I want some more to train up the brick wall. Having in all likelihood killed my Banksia I'm going to get a packet of Banksia marginata. I'd also like to try my hand at Magnolia grandiflora - otherwise I'm going to spend a lot of money on a larger specimen. And maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but with a Sequoiadendron giganteum and a Metasequoia glyptostroboides I really have to grow a Sequoia sempervirens.
And all that is before the 2009 Chiltern Seeds catalogue comes out!!
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