Seed potatoes and seeds

Despite the forecast cold snap over the next week or so, this is a busy time of year for the garden. And not just when it comes to cutting back and planting things. If you want to get some birds visiting your garden (a crucial habitat now for our birds), make sure there's plenty of food available. They're really busy at the moment - our robins appear to be singing all through the night, the blue tits are checking out nest boxes and the collared doves are lumbering amorously about the place - so need plenty of high energy food. Try hanging up suet cakes and fat balls, keep some clean water out and top up the feeders if they're low. We've had a glut of goldfinches after the nyjer seed (6 of them yesterday) and a mistle thrush this morning who's hopefully going to decimate our snail population as well as blue tits, great tits, coal tits, long tailed tits, dunnocks, robins, blackbirds, woodpigeons, and even blackcaps and 

If you want an early crop of potatoes then it's time to start thinking about getting hold of some seed potatoes. Even better, cadge some from a friend or family member or club together to get hold of some: you always get so many seed pots that you'd struggle to use them all yourself. There's a picture of ours sitting around getting ready to sprout before we plant them. Growing in a container is good - either a big pot or a compost bag is nice and convenient.

After last year's experiments, we've decided to go for the most successful of the tomato varieties we tried back then - so it's San Marzano for the tumblers in containers, and Rudolph and Bloody Butcher to put in the greenhouse. The first tomato seeds are in the propagator now...

Here's a list of the things we're growing from seed at various points during the year, courtesy of Simpson's Seeds:

Broad Bean: Witkiem Manita

Beetroot: Bikores

Cabbage: January King

Climbing Bean: Borlotto Lingua di Fuoco

Cucumber: Gherkin National

Runner Bean: Painted Lady

Strawberry: Alexandria

Tomato: San Marzano, Bloody Butcher & Rudolph

As the garden's still in a transitional stage, we're not going to bite off more than we can chew (literally)... And that transition means that we're still looking at shrubs to move from the back garden (the main growing plot) out to the front (to make hedge-ish barriers and spruce up the front), or to get rid of and chip for the compost heap.

Busy, busy. And the next thing to plan is another brew day. I'm getting behind and now there'll be a hideous beer-free gap between what's on now (a lovely dark mild) and what's to come!