Evening Folks

Does anyone know if there is a difference between the sets planted in autumn and spring?

If not would sets purchased now be ok/last until planted spring next year?

Is anyone else interested in trying quinoa? I was interested in why it is spelt as it is but pronounced completely differently. Does anyone know?

I think these are ready to harvest now but weather looks dry for next week so will leave and keep an eye on them. They are not meant to be eaten by any birds or animals but we have the full set of marauders here (apart from deer).

   

I didn't want to detract from Broadway's sad news, but here at last is a pic of my BFFF (Best Feline Friend Forever):

   

Yes, that's her in my bed - I swear she thinks she's human!

She also likes to play fetch:

   

Note that I did not teach her this - she just started doing it of her own accord so I could throw her toy again!

Maddie was diagnosed with diabetes at the end of July, but is doing well on her insulin and will no doubt continue to be an adorable pain in the butt for a few more years (she's coming up on 15, and Burmese are almost as long-lived as Siamese).

I walk my dog along the edge of a wheat field. About a week ago, and even though the wheat is about ready to harvest I saw the farmer spraying the field.We quickly vacated the field edge.

It appears it was weedkiller as the weeds are now dying in the field and even the wheat leaves have turned yellow. I used to work in amenity horticulture and did some tractor mounted spraying myself. As far as i know this could only have been a glyphosate based or worse still an aminopyralid based weedkiller.
Its rather worrying that the wheat will soon be harvested and as long as an appropriate time has been left before harvesting the farmer is quite within his rights to do this?

Sorry if this may seem alarmist but I will in future be sourcing organically grown flour or bread because of this.

PS I don't really understand why this was needed and wonder how organic farmers achieve the same result?

Got some friends staying 

   

And look at the beautiful gift they keep leaving me

   

  

I plan to make a success of sweet peppers next year.  I think I've failed in the past. Because the plants were always overshadowed in the greenhouse by tomatoes.  So my question is:

What variety of sweet peppers have you had success with under cover.   I'm fond of the orange ones in the shops as I think they're sweeter.  I have a pkt of freebie seeds Etiuda Orange which I will give a try.  Has anyone else tried them?

Can I overwinter geraniums without a greenhouse?

Why do some varieties get called F1 on some seed suppliers but no F1 mention on others?  Can I check anywhere please?

I grew Rosella tomatoes this year from Premier and they are lush.  Performed well, taste gorgeous, thin skin but not as prone to splitting as black cherry or black opal. I am saving seeds to share on here, but need to clarify if they are F1 or not. 

https://www.premierseedsdirect.com/produ...y-rosella/


https://www.seedaholic.com/tomato-f1-rosella.html

Any advice please? This tomatoes really impressed me, so I would love to share them.

Sutt0ns "New for 2020" seeds are being advertised online. This is a company with a penchant for giving grand new names to quite ordinary seeds sold far more cheaply elsewhere. 

As an example, they're selling "Garlic Kale" - 200 seeds for £2.99. In small print, it says these are Texsel Greens. 
Joy Larkcom mentions these often in her books so I've known about them for many years .

DTBrown's Catalogue has just arrived - they sell "Amara" Ethiopian Kale "quick and easy to grow Texsel greens"  500 seeds £2.49.

Even cheaper - Seedaholic 370 seeds  £1.10. https://www.seedaholic.com/texsel-greens.html

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Sutton's at their best want you to forage for wild plants in a pot. 
https://www.suttons.co.uk/Gardening/Vege...167976.htm
Only £3.99 to grow a pot of weeds.

Each day, for the next 26 days, we're going to play I-Spy and find plants in our gardens/countryside, starting with that letter - photos especially welcome. 

If you can't find a plant, find something else - be inventive.

Tomorrow's letter is A

To make it more challenging, Points will be allocated for each item and we'll keep a running total to see who finds the most. For example, Turnips, Teasels and Tarragon would score 3 points. If they were on a Table it would be 4 points.