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!

What happened to the rain? We were predicted loads, but not much came. This gave me the chance to finish off a few little jobs that needed doing. The greenhouse (i use the term loosely) is now finished. The old shelving unit, free from www.freecycle.net is now nailed to the wall to enable it to stay in place over winter, and i have attached sheet plastic to protect the overwintering chilli plants and the last of the spring onions, which are slowly battling on.

I have planted some ‘Valdor’ lettuce, which is only suitable for Autumn planting, in there too, in the hope that it will give us some leaves for summer.

The greenhouse is stapled at the top and pinned at the sides and bottom to enable winter access for me but keep the frost out. I’ve done this in two sections so that i don’t get loads of horrid flappy plastic around me when i go to fetch some veg.

We also popped down to Dundry Nurseries ( http://www.dundrynurseries.co.uk/ ) on the way to the supermarket, and ended up buying a variety of seed and winter bulbs…and this is before all the seed catalogues have arrived!