Seeds

It's about this time of year that I dig out the box of seeds and the stack of gardening books and begin dreaming about next year and all the things I could do...

This year I'm trying to be a bit more savvy though. Inspired by a lecture I crashed on organic horticulture I've made us a planting plan in Excel (I'm a believer that there are few things that cannot be improved by the employment of a spreadsheet!). This has our plants down the side, and weeks of the year along the top. Seeds are group by rotation groups (legumes, tatties, cabbagey type things etc.) and coloured blocks signify planting dates.

Boring much? Maybe. But the idea is that we'll get a continuous harvest of veggies this year rather than several gluts interspersed by trips to the shop to top up on things.

We will be topping up on a few seeds after Christmas from our catalogue of choice: The Real Seed Catalogue which do an amazing array of veg, flowers and unusual bits and pieces. The best bit is they don't do F1 hybrids, so all the seed can be saved for the next year.

I'm currently badgering Jon for some walking onions. I'll let you know if I succeed...