Vegmonkey and the Mrs.

I treated myself today.

After going to pick up the Mrs.’ new car this morning, she drove home and i snook off to the garden centre. www.dundrynurseries.co.uk/  It is close to where i live which is handy, but the main purpose was to buy some seed potatoes. I’ve heard of potato days in the past but have never been to one. Bizzarely, i really enjoyed myself (as much as is possible at seeing 150 varieties of seed potato!).  It was possible to buy any of the varieties loose, in 3kg bags or 25kg bags. This is great for me as i don’t have to pay the high postage costs commanded when buying online, and have the exact variety i wanted. I bought a 3kg bag for £4.25, which will give me enough seed pot’s to plant, plus do the work veg patch and give a few away to friends so they can be ‘amazed and astounded!’ Whoever heard of a potato as a present!

I chose ‘Ulster Sceptre,’ a first early potato which can be chitted now, planted mid March and harvested early to mid-June. It is known as an ‘early, earlie’ potato which will be ready 10 weeks after planting, and was first bred in 1964.  When i harvest them, the leeks can go straight into the space, and the ground use is maximised. I also bought 2 large black potato buckets which will take 3 tubers each and produce about 6kg of potatoes per bucket, Ulster Sceptre having a particularly high yield. Sadly i will only be able to grow first earlies due to the size of the garden, but we are going to have plenty.

It does amaze me though, how many people appear at an event like a potato day, and how much of a massive operation it is. A very patriotic British occasion. There were also some ’show quality’ veggies there, to which i can only aspire. I’ll let the pics to the talking!

We planted about 10 seeds of Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli (2 c 1 l!) back in April in the Brassica bed. They grew nicely, so we thinned out a few and gave them away. We left 3, which is really 2 too many for the metre square space they are in. However, they have grown nicely and are now ‘uge! They have taken a bit of a battering by the wind lately and have had to be staked to stop them falling over, but just to take the weight…no string or ties. As this is ‘early,’ it will start producing tasty florets around March time. The ‘later’ variety starts, as the name suggests in April.

As the Brassica bed will be used next April for the carrot, parsnips, leeks and onions, it will need to be clear, so that will probably mean sacrificing the plants before they have finished producing.

To compensate for this next year we will be planting ‘Extra Early Rudolph’ next April so it will be ready by Feb and we’ll have it for a lot longer!

The perils of trying to grow all year round in a small garden are huge! I’m not looking forward to trying to get the manure into the maze at the base of the plants in a few weeks!