Its raining, I'm bored, so I'm sorting my tomato seeds alphabetically, of course! I have lots - far more than I will ever grow. So I thought I'd start a list of tomatoes which, maybe, you could add to or give your opinion of............... You know the sort of thing ..... would grow again/no chance? Tasty/bland etc. Disease prone, sprawling, heavy cropper etc. 

I'll start a new thread for each letter as I come to it - or you can start your own. Your choice.

The Chinese New Year starts tomorrow, 17th February. Its the Year of the Fire Horse. 

You can look up your Birth Animal here 
https://proxy-www.chinahighlights.com/tr...w-year.htm

I'm a Dog Find Your Zodiac Sign
You are a:Dog

• Personality: lovely, honest, prudent
  

• 
  Lucky colors: red, green, and purple
  
  
• Lucky flowers: rose, cymbidium orchids
  

• Lucky numbers: 3, 4, 9
  

Last year I grew many of my  vegetables in large (30l) pots and got into the habit of sowing more than one type of seed in each pot to make the most use of the compost, space and effort of watering & weeding. 

My unwritten rule was to grow a root with a leaf and a fruit. Not because of my Roots/shoots/fruits and Leaves plan but because they compliment each other with their space requirements. For example, a carrot needs room to grow below ground, but its not very demanding above ground so sowing lettuce or chard with the carrots  takes advantage of the same space.
All the tomatoes shared their pots with carrots or radish, and a leafy crop like lettuce or rocket. The mangetout and cucumbers that were growing on supporting canes were also undersown with roots and leaves. 

I know this is all very obvious but I wondered whether those of you who grow in open ground grow "space complimentary" vegetables in this way. Maybe lettuce at the base of your beansticks or dwarf peas and radish amongst the courgettes.
Veg that take a long time to mature, like parsnips and brussels sprouts have always seemed to me to be "greedy" plants that take up too much space/time and I've stopped trying to grow them. However, if I can grow other veg in the same space it wouldn't be quite so wasteful. 

I shall be experimenting with this soon, but, meanwhile, any suggestion for workable combinations that you have tried?

The things that really wind you up for no "sensible" reason. Keep it poiite.
 
I dislike:-
The way Americans call soil "dirt" like its rubbish to throw away.
Anything that features a woman in a cardigan and beads who sells flowers and overpriced seeds
A man who promotes No Digging as the answer to life the universe and everything as if its a sin to wield a spade.
TV Gardeners with perfectly manicured, weedfree gardens.

I'm intrigued by the Celtic Wheel of Life  but know very little about it. So its my homework for this year!
If anyone can contribute anything useful - and I don't mean scoffing about it being for witches and pagans - please do so. I'm looking at it with an open mind and hope you can too!

The end of January/beginning of February is called Imbolc and it marks the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. When we welcome a return to the light, lambs are born, spring flowers are emerging. Snowdrops are brought into the house. Candles are burnt and bonfires lit. 
It's also St Brigid's day when crosses are woven from rushes in Ireland and ? Scotland so Imbolc is paired with the Christian calendar. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imbolc

Its also Candlemas - from the Christian calendar https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/common/candlemas
.......and there's a Full Moon - the Snow Moon tonight.
Snowdrops are known as Candlemas Bells. 

So many traditions and beliefs coming together. 
I'm going to celebrate Imbolc in my own little way . I'll pick some snowdrops and light a candle. Tonight I'll look for the Snow Moon.

Sorry about the rambling. Just trying to understand it all!

'Oh wee sleekit cowering beastie' (Think that's the way it goes?)
How many are partaking of the 'Haggis, neeps & tatties'

I've got mine ready to cook up, but I did struggle with only a skemmy small swede in the shop as everyone must have had the same idea?

Looking forward to it later!

I’ve just filled in a form to be a trial grower for she grows veg.      looking for growers in 

Eastern & Western Scotland
The Highlands and outlying islands
Wales
Northern England

Imagine that  you're deciding what to eat today - maybe its inspired by a recipe or something that you often make and enjoy. With experience, you know that there are some ingredients that aren't essential and you can replace them with something else which will have a similar taste or texture. 

Now the pedants will say that if the recipe requires an onion, it has to be an onion - not a leek, spring onion or the leaves of elephant garlic.
Similarly if it requires cabbage, it can't be kale, cauliflower leaves or sprouts. 
Spinach must be spinach - not chard or beetroot leaves. 
A salad must have lettuce........

All year round I can pick leaves of spring onions, leeks and elephant garlic, chard, cut and come again lettuce, rocket and various other salad leaves. They're all quite easy to grow and undemanding. 
However, I struggle with cabbage, cauliflowers & sprouts, broccoli, bulb onions and heading lettuce.

So why put myself through all the work and expense when I could grow the taste substitutes with relative ease.

Suggestions welcome for other easy taste substitutes.

What seeds are you saving? 


Snap dragons. My first lot of seeds this year.

Seems about right to me?  Does it apply to the UK? What are your thoughts?

https://cdn.realfood.gov/DGA.pdf