Young plants are coming up on the window sills, it's lovely to see seeds turn into life. Everything planted indoors has germinated well: broccoli, beetroot, carrots, leeks, peas, French beans, tomatoes. The potatoes are chitting well too, with some small, healthy green shoots now showing.
It has been a cold week of pleasantly calm and dry weather, though with plenty of frost overnight so the seeds planted outside haven't germinated yet. This is the first wave of planting. Some of the more tender vegetables will be planted next month.
French bean shoots, with beetroot and peas in the background.
Carrot, broccoli, tomato and leek seedlings.
While researching front gardens which have been dug up for food, I found James Wong's website and was really intrigued by his adventures into growing unusual edibles and edibles that you would never think could grow in our cool, wet and windy climate. I already knew that you could eat nasturtium flowers and leaves, but I didn't know that Dahlia tubers were edible or that you can grow certain types of melon here. Or that there is also a small kiwi fruit that hails from Siberia, can survive down to -35c and has an edible skin. Inspired by reading his blog and looking at pictures of his rampant, jungle like front garden, I now wonder if I would have been better buying purple carrots instead of orange ones and whether I have space for a patch of electric daisies, whose small yellow flowers will give your mouth a shock and a bit of a local anaesthetic (useful for toothache)! Some of the unusual root crops such as New Zealand yams, Skirrett and Queensland Arrowroot could be a viable alternative to blight ridden potatoes. Like many last year, my potatoes suffered with blight and as I had to pull them up early to save them, the yield was paltry. According to James, there are no records to say that potatoes suffered from blight in the first 100 years after they were brought to the UK. It was only later that pests and disease began to establish a hold. Similarly, his unusual crops are easy to grow and blight free.
Perhaps then, biodiversity is the key. We are growing too few varieties in a climate that could support much more. The less variety we grow, the easier it is for pests. Monocultures are a pest paradise, unless of course sprayed heavily with chemicals that then have to 'evolve' and grow stronger to deal with stronger pests. By growing more variety in my own garden I hope to attract natural predators and also to confuse some pests by planting aromatic plants near those targeted by insects.
I've made a list of 20 varieties that I'd like to try, (though I may not have room to try all of these this year):
Salsify, Borage, Electric Daisies, Emir Melon, Asparagus Peas, Dahlia Yams, Purslane, Quinoa, Wild White Strawberries, Queensland Arrowroot, Callaloo, Skirrett, New Zealand Yams, Peruvian Earth Apples, Sugar Leaf, Sweet Potato, Inca Berries, Chickpeas, Cucamelons, Microgreens.
Some of these plants are beautiful ornamentals, so I'm really pleased that I can grow plants that are both useful and easy on the eye. More about these soon!
In the meantime, here's the link to James Wong's site:
Today it's been lovely, sunny and spring-like, if a little on the cold side. We've moved the pond to the new wildlife corner, along with the rocks and boulders from the front garden. The rocks provide useful hiding places for insects and amphibians. I've also made a small animal house, with hedgehogs in mind, out of bricks, rock and wood. Three sedge (carex pendula) have been planted, they are very small at the moment, but this plant comes with a warning because once established it spreads like wildfire. The area already looks much better, although it isn't finished. The next task is to plant some flowers that are attractive to bees and other beneficial insects, I'm thinking of Borage and Phacelia which both have attactive blue flowers.
The above picture shows the shrub in the wildlife area being pruned last weekend.
This is how the wildlife corner looks today after the pond was moved.
Above left: Phacelius which I hope to grow in the wildlife corner (it is also a good green manure) and to the right, a picture of the hedgehog house.
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