February 2012
Home Grown Revolution 
The Specialists in Raised Vegetable Beds
 
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Jobs for February
Seedy Sunday update
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Did you know it's Chip Week from 20th-26th Feb?

A quarter of all potatoes grown in Britain are made into chips - that's 1.5 million tonnes, or the equivalent of 125,000 full double decker buses.

An average portion of chip shop chips contains 686 fewer calories than a donor kebab.

During the second world war, chips were one of the few foods that weren't rationed.

Yum Yum. It would be rude not to eat chips at least once during chip week wouldn't it?  Salt, vinegar and ketchup for me please. 

Hello.

Imagine if you will, sunshine and a cluster of beautifully ripe, warm, firm and juicy tomatoes, smelling greenly of their vine... A slice of ripe, creamy brie, a hunk of crusty bread, a glass of chilled vino... er... yes alright, I know it's vile outside,  but it's not too early to get your tomatoes, chillis and peppers going, so that come July and August,the above could, just maybe could, become a reality.  Info on how to get your toms off to a good start follows.  

We had a lovely sunny Sunday in late January where we sowed various seeds - lettuces, radishes, rocke
Sean planting January 2011t, spinach, leeks, carrots etc.  All now tucked up under their polycovers which, from the looks of things, are going to be vital over the next couple of weeks.   I have kept my one resolution so far, and was raking, forking and sowing alongside Sean, but was having a bad hair day, hence no photo of me. (Sean says this is a major advantage of not having much hair).  He's planting up the medium double height bed, I got on with a couple of the larger beds.  There are already seedlings pushing up, and I'll take some pics of those to show you next month. 
Jobs for February in your beds
(and in the warmth of the kitchen...) 

1) Sow your tomato seeds indoors, if you haven't already. We love Franchi Seeds, they have some fabulous varieties. Being originally from South America (Mexico I think), tomatoes generally don't do that well in this climate unless they're given a bit of tender loving care and lots of warmth to begin with. 

So, to get them off to a good start, grab some small pots (about 2") and fill wFranchi Seeds- tomatoesith good potting compost.  Dibble your little finger in the surface, not too deep, and drop in a couple of seeds per pot. Cover gently and give them a light spray of water.  Place them
onto a nice warm windowsill. They'll respond very well to about 20 degrees C, and lots of light. If they have to search for the light, they'll get leggy, which weakens the plant, and in our experience the adult plants that grown from these leggy seedlings are neveras good. Leave them be until the seedlings start to germinate, and get to look good and strong. Choose your best seedling, and transfer to a slightly larger pot (about 3"). Replant it fairly deeply, about halfway up the stem to encourage strong root growth. If you've got a heated greenhouse, leave them there. If not, keep them indoors in a warm, sunny spot, until it's really warm enough to  put them under your polycover outside, or to plant straight outside come late Spring. 

2) Towards the end of February you can sow kohl rabi, parsnips, spring onions and summer radishes outside, as long as it's not ridiculously cold and wet.   You can also be sowing lettuces, summer cabbages, celeriac and spinach under your poly, just as we did a week or so ago.    

3) Onions. Sets v. seeds.  We've tried both, and I have to say that sets win hands down every time. Quicker to grow, much less of a fiddle with no pricking out and transplanting.  Sets are like half grown onions, but in a dormant state.  Your big onions will need to wait until the end of February, probably into March before you can plant them out, but you can start your shallots off now UNLESS it's really really cold and wet, in which case use your judgement planting shallots in Januaryand wait a bit until conditions improve.  

Rake your soil,and either make a decent sized drill as in the picture, or alternatively just make small holes with your trowel and drop in a shallot so that it just disappears from view - if you leave the tips showing the birds will have them, unless you've got a bird cover on of course. Because shallots will produce a clump of several offsets instead of one big onion, you need to space them out a little more, so leave about 4" (10cm) between each set, and make the rows about 12" (30cm) apart.  Give them a good water. And that's it, other than checking on them occasionally, gentle watering when necessary, and weeding between them.  

4) It's a good time to sow your herb seeds now.  You can sow parsley, fennel, coriander, dill, chervil and marjoram in shallow drills in  your beds, or, if you don't want to give up as much room in your bed, you can sow them in pots in  your kitchen and pop them onto the windowsill - you should have some decent plants within 8 weeks or so.

5) If you've got strawberry plants growing in a bed, as we have, you may want to cover them with some horticultural fleece for protection from the cold, wind and snow that's already with some of us.  It will encourage them to flower and fruit earlier than usual.  Don't forget to water them if it's windy and dry. You can get hold of horticultural fleece from most garden centres. Alternatively, pop on a polycover which will do a similar job; we've got an old one hanging around somewhere which will do the job nicely.  

6) With the average water bill set to rise by 5.7% from April this year it's time to get your water butts sorted if you haven't already. If you're on a water meter, as increasing numbers of us are, using harvested rain water will not only help save you money when watering your crops, it's also much better for them than the water that comes out of your tap.  If you only do one thing this month, make it this one!

The perfect potato? 

It's time to get your potatoes on the go.  In other words, start chitting like mad.  Get your early variety seed potatoes (try Rocket; Epicure; Maris Bard; Home Guard) and sit them, six at a time, in an egg box in your back room, or by a window in the garage. Keep them cool and in the light. You want them to start sprouting and the more shrivelled they become the better, as that's a result of the energy of the plant going into producing strong shoots. When the shoots are around an inch long you can start to plant them outside, but this won't be until the end of the month, if not into early March. 

If you've got a few really big pots going spare, you can plant your earlies straight into these now for a quicker crop. Half fill them with potting compost and plant three or four chitted potatoes, evenly spaced.  Cover with another 3" or so of compost, and plant another three or four potatoes, then fill the pot to the rim with more compost. Give the pot a light water, don't let it get soggy. Stand somewhere frost free - garage, conservatory etc. Water sparingly until shoots appear, then slowly increase watering as they grow. If you don't give them enough water, you'll end up with potatoes the size of marbles which is not good. Move the pots outside when all risk of frost is over.  You could be eating these in May, lightly steamed with a big knob of butter and a few flakes of sea salt. Delicious.   

You should also start thinking about chitting  your second earlies 
(plant out mid March to end of April and harvest late June to end ofBlue flowers of the Blue Danube potato August) and your maincrop varieties (plant out mid March to end of April and harvest July to October).  For maincrops, try some of the Sarpo varieties, bred to be resistant to blight - Sarpo Mita, Sarpo Axone, and also Blue Danube, with it's lovely blue flowers and purple skin (they make delicious roasties). All the Sarpo varieties are good against slugs as well, and will store well. You can buy them on-line from  Thompson and Morgan . 

SEEDY SUNDAY UPDATE...

 

David et GoliathIn last month's edition of the newsletter I talked a bit about Seedy Sundays and how, as well as it being a great opportunity for gardeners around the country to swap seeds, it's also a campaign against the massive control of our seed supply by a small number of hugely rich and influential companies in the EU. Well, a recent victory in the French courts by a small independent French seed company against one of France's biggest may mean that there are changes afoot in EU seed law. 

 

Without getting too bogged down in legal ins and outs, the influential opinion of the Advocate-General of the EU Court of Justice was that the part of EU seed law that makes it illegal to trade or grow unregistered varieties, or to classify them as DUS (distinct, uniform and stable) violates the principle of proportionality, free enterprise, free movement of goods and the principle of non-discrimination.  In other words, these parts of EU seed law are, in her opinion, illegal.  Now, it's just her opinion, but it's a HUGE leap forwards.  At the moment, these laws are perhaps the single most important barrier to biodiversity in farmers fields. And ultimately in our gardens.  I'll be watching how this develops with interest. Vive la France!

 

Thanks for reading; do forward this to anyone who may be interested and get them to sign up. Don't forget you can follow  me on Facebook where I post bits of info and tips most days.  

I'll be back next month, and in the meantime have a great February.

Sincerely,
 

Gaynor 
Home Grown Revolution
 
SHOWS! We're getting ready for the new season of shows. Here are a a couple of dates and links for your diaries: 
Loseley Spring Gardening Show, April 20-22nd, near Guildford, Surrey
East Anglian Game and Country Fair April 28-29th, Norfolk Showground