Happy Birthday, Danny Broadway! Hope your day is filled with happiness ..........and cake.  xx

We've all heard about the Three Sisters method of growing where sweetcorn, climbing beans and squash are grown together and provide benefits to each other. The beans climb the corn stalks, the squash shades the ground between the plants and the beans add nitrogen to the soil.  The RHS suggests growing sunflowers in the mix too. too. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-...ee-sisters

I've just read an article about Hodmedod's grower of Carlin peas who grows the carlin peas alongside Triticale cereal which provides a  support for the peas to climb up. https://digital-mag.co.uk/waitrosefood-m...eb2025/#90

This has me wondering what other crops could be "buddied up" (as the Hodmedod's grower calls it). Two plants grown in the same place providing double the harvest. 

I'm not really thinking about "companion planting" where one plant acts as a pest deterrent to another, like onions and carrots, but where one plant takes advantage of the physical characteristics of another - like beans climbing up sweetcorn. It could be like hedging your bets - if your sweetcorn is a failure, never mind, because you may still have beans, idea.

Any ideas for other combinations?

Have you guys heard of the latest trend on Tiktok and Instagram? People are laying out plastic or something that isn't penetrable, laying compost on it, sow seeds, then roll it up into 'seed snails'. It apparently makes it easier to separate the plants later on, and it holds moisture etc, and removes the need for seed trays.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9AinRRQ89o

Have you tried it? I might experiment with that!

Does anyone have any echium pininana snow tower seeds. They would be willing to swap. Hopefully I’ve got something in my stash you’d be interested in. Unfortunately my 2 snow towers haven’t made it though the winter so I can’t save seeds and I have 2 big gaps in my flower bed  ( which I can easily fill, I’m being a drama queen    ).
Thank you.

I am in full swing sowing seeds, and a LOT of it is from our seed circle here.

I came across a packet this morning, one of those triangular ones that have been folded out of a piece of paper. The label has rubbed off onto something else, so I have no idea what they are.

So, join me in this mystery collaborative. The evidence are as following:
The seed packet was folded out of a gardeners world magazine.
The seeds are black beans with a little white dot on the belly.
Google searches come up with black beans/turtle beans.
Search on this forum doesn't bring up any seed circle posts that mention turtle or black beans.

I will hold off sowing them, as it's only just February.

The plot thickens.

Veggie help please     . In one of the seed swaps you sent me a packet of squash winter chi chi. It’s a plain white packet with a printed label on it. No pictures. I’m just working out my sowing list for this year and googled said squash. Nothing! Can you or anyone please help me identify this?

I am going to try selling sweet peas this year, but I'm unsure how to price them. Generally, I undercut the big online gardening companies and garden centres because I think they're overpriced. I've done a bit of research and the online companies sell them in modules of 6, 10 or 12 cells. A lot of them are multi sown, so you get 3 or 4 plants in each cell. 

So I'm thinking of sowing 3 to a cell in 10 cell modules, but I don't know how much to charge. How much would you pay for 30 sweet pea plants? The range online seems to be between 50p and £2 per cell - £20 for a 10 cell module seems way too much, even though it would get you a lot of plants, and £5 seems more reasonable.

Now are attentions are firmly on seed sowing and planning. What’s everyone growing this year?
I know we’ve got our tomato grow lists, almost sorted. What about everything else? Anything new? Anything never again? My list is a work in progress.

Beetroot Mangelwurzel in raised bed (I have to put in place ) 
Carrots - variety to be decided (outside fish box)
DFB - last year’s chilli bed - Vermont cranberry, jacobs cattle gold , sonesta
Bush bean yin yang 
Mangetout green beauty  (outside fish box) 
Sprouting broccoli (outside fish box) 
Kale dwarf green curled (outside fish box)
Pumpkin - bath (variety to be decided)
Courgette - bath ( variety to be decided)
Samphire (fish box in tunnel)

Sunflower  (outside everywhere)
Bombay bronze cockscomb. -fish box
Other flowers - all of them (no idea where )

In chilli grow
chocolate habanero 1
Jalapeño 1
Beaver dam 1

Aubergine  1 - ( variety to be decided) tomato bed )

Salad bar
Lettuce
Mixed cut leaves 
Spring onions 

In pots parsley, basil, dill 

Premier Seeds are collaborating with Charles Dowding to sell monthly seed collections, based on CD's recommendations for each month's sowing.
There are 8 collections as some months are paired  and some unfortunate months have no recommended sowings. 
If you bought all of them, it would cost a few pence less than £129.

https://premierseedsdirect.com/?post_typ...es+dowding

A good idea for anyone  who's unsure about what to sow when - and you don't have to buy the Collections, just use the contents list and choose what you like to grow. 
For example, January/February is one collection, with 9 packets of seeds. (£12.99) :-
Artichoke – Gros Vert De Laon (80 seeds)
 Asparagus – Mary Washington (150 seeds)
 Aubergine – Long Purple (2gm)
 Broad Bean – Aquadulce Claudia (75gm)
 Hot Pepper – Lemon Drop (20 seeds)
Sweet Pepper – Tangerine Dream (20 seeds)
 Sweet Pepper – Asti Yellow (50 seeds)
 Pea – Maple Leaf (40gm)
 Spinach – Medania (6gm)


No point me buying this as I don't want to grow peppers, aubergines, artichokes and asparagus, but I could sown Broad beans, peas and spinach. That's £12.99 I've saved myself.

With the tomato grow list thread appearing, and get the uncontrollable urge to sow far too many tomatoes. I’d like your advice again please. You all did so brilliantly last year, helping me choose my tomato varieties. I’d be nuts not to ask your advice this year.
I’ve written up a short list of candidates this year. They are- 
tomato black icicle 
tomato sweet casaday 
tomato girl girl weird thing 
tomato ananas noir 
tomato juaune flamme 
tomato piglet Willie 


I only have space for 3 . Which 3 do you suggest? 
Thank you