What We’re Growing in 2018

We LOVE this time of year as we see all the bulbs pushing through in the garden and the weather (hopefully) starts to improve. We have BIG plans to grow lots of lovely things in our garden this year to supplement the fruit trees, rhubarb, raspberries and blueberries we already have growing. Here’s what we’re growing in 2018 in our veg garden:

VEGETABLES

• Rocket ‘Speedy’  -Rocket has become hugely popular in the last few years, and we have to say its warm, peppery flavour works well with so many other salad ingredients. As its name suggests, this is a fast grower and one of the very best strains available.
• Shallot ‘Vigarmor’  – This modern French variety is well worth growing. Firm, pink flesh and a coppery tinge to the skin make these banana shaped bulbs very attractive as well as being crammed with flavour. High yields and a good storer too.
• Garlic ‘Solent Wight’ – This superb, softneck strain yields large, high quality bulbs with a fragrance which is both long and strong.
• Onion ‘Hercules’ – Gives high yields of almost spherical bulbs with rich, golden skins and firm, well flavoured flesh.  Hercules shows very good resistance to bolting and will keep for several months.
• Onion ‘Red Baron’ – Onion Red Baron AGM is the best red-skinned variety, the attractive, crimson-skinned bulbs when sliced reveal contrasting red and white rings, making it most attractive on the plate. Red Baron has a lovely, robust flavour and is a remarkably good keeper.
• Leeks ‘Porbella’ – Remarkable for its heavy yields of very upright shanks, which can be lifted from October right through to February, Porbella stands in good condition for months and shows good resistance to rust.
• Lettuce ‘Salad Bowl Mixed’  – These widely grown varieties are two of the very best loose-leaf lettuces. Simply cut and come again.
• Carrot ‘Nandor’ – This high quality Nantes hybrid has superb resistance to carrot fly.  Quick maturing and can withstand variable weather conditions which make this an ideal variety for the UK climate.
• Chard ‘Perpetual Spinach’ – Worthwhile spinach-alternative which does not run to seed even on dry soils. High yields of large, dark, fleshy, tasty leaves produced over several months.
• Onion (Spring) ‘White Lisbon’ – Regarded by many as THE spring onion, it is a fast grower and has a great taste.
• Radish ‘Solito’ – A new red radish, crunchy and with a delicious flavour. This variety will mature in just over three weeks. Very uniform and up to 40mm in diameter. Has a fine tap root, good tolerance to cracking and high resistance to Fusarium.
• Courgette ‘Tuscany’ – Well suited to the UK climate, this vigorous variety produces few spines so it’s easier to pick.  It has resistance to powdery mildew and yields a large supply of very dark straight fruits.  Has firm flesh and excellent flavour.
• Beetroot ‘Bulls Blood’ – Grow as cut-and-come-again salad leaves with a mild beetroot flavour. The deep red foliage can be cut back to the ground three or four times and the colour intensifies as autumn approaches. The roots can also be eaten.
• Beetroot ‘Boltardy’ – Beetroot Boltardy can be sown earlier than most other varieties with little fear of bolting. The roots are deep red and of good quality and flavour, yielding well in most soils. Boltardy is a multigerm variety, so each seed which germinates successfully will produce several plants.

FRUIT

• Strawberry ‘Mara des Bois’ – Imagine the intense perfume and rich flavour of wild strawberries combined with the fruit size of modern varieties and you have strawberry Mara des Bois! The medium size fruits of this ever-bearer strawberry are a true treat and one which no strawberry fan will be able to resist. Truly scrumptious!

FLOWERS

We’re also growing a few flowers from seed too to add to our pretty garden:

• Cosmos ‘Sensation’ – Cosmos grows densely with large single pink, red and white flowers. Good for the back of the border and as a cut flower.
• Sweet Pea ‘Cupani’ – Believed to be the original sweet pea which was sent to England from Sicily in 1699 – or very closely akin to it – this eye-catching bicolour remains one of the most beautiful sweet peas you can grow. Grow a little piece of history, smell the fragrance of those blooms and you will understand why sweet peas became so popular.

As you know from our last blog, “Growing Potatoes” we will also be growing three different varieties of potatoes this year.

I’d love to hear what you plan to grow in your garden this year…

Lulu & Tilda xx

Thanks to DT Seeds who we purchased this year’s seeds from and for all their great plant descriptions. 

Growing Potatoes

It was Potato Day in my neighbouring village of Dunblane at the weekend so we popped up with M&D to have a look. It was a busy old gathering of people and we bumped into friends, colleagues and clients while we were there! So, what happens at Potato Day and what has it got to do with growing potatoes, I hear you say?…

Potato Day

Well, Potato Day is a gathering of people who are selling a huge range of different varieties of potatoes. From your early potatoes to salad potatoes there was a variety to suit your garden. You could buy a bulk bag of your favourite variety or just individual tubers of ones you haven’t tried before to suit your allotment size. There was also a stall selling lots of seeds and onion sets so you could get your whole GYO area sorted out for the season ahead.

Potato Day in Dunblane

Our Picks

We opted to go for 3 different varieties of potatoes this year. We normally only choose one as we don’t have lots of space so it was a real treat to be able to choose individual tubers and get the exact quantities we wanted. You can also look at each tuber and make sure none are soft, mouldy or shrivelled. We chose:

1st Early – Arran Pilot. A very early traditional potato, the most popular potato grown in the UK in the 1930s! A new one to us.

2nd Early – Maris Peer. A great tasting early potato. We grow this potato lots and we love it!

Salad potato – International Kidney. This one makes a very tasty salad potato with a waxy texture. Another new one for us to try.

A great choice of potatoes

What next…

You need to “chit” your potatoes before you can plant them in the ground. Chitting means sprouting the tuber – putting it, most eyes upright, in a light, cool but frost-free place at about 10C. Old egg cartons are a great holder for your potatoes while they are chitting. Chitting potatoes gives you a quicker and slightly larger harvest.

Once you have healthy, short, green shoots, about an inch long, they are ready to be planted in the ground. Rub off all but 3 or 4 of the healthiest shoots at the top of your potatoes.

Dig straight, shallow trenches, two to three feet apart, in prepared soil. Plant seed potatoes 12 inches apart and cover with about 3 inches of soil. When the shoots reach 10 to 12 inches tall, use a hoe or shovel to scoop soil from between rows and mound it against the plants, burying the stems halfway.

Potato chitting

Your first early potatoes should be ready to dig up around June/July with the second earlies about a month later. If you choose maincrops they will be ready from August through to October.

Happy potato growing!

Lulu & Tilda xx