One Week to Go to the Plant Sale

Only one more week to go before the plant sale, things are growing but there seems to be so much less to sell than last year. We didn't have enough space for all the plants in the greenhouses and cold frame last year and we certainly have loads of space now. I am quite worried that we don't have enough to sell. I don't think we'll have much left afterwards.

I spent most of today making up the labels for the pots, this entails laminating the seed packets and writing the prices on. I only had about half to do as Sylvia did the seed packets that everyone else had sown; she has done hers much more artistically than I have. However, I have made up the information sheets for the tomatoes to display on the stall, as people always want to know exactly what type of tomato it is before they buy it. One of my ideas is to have a file with information about sowing, growing, plant properties and culinary use, available to all. I am thinking of incorporating recipes into this file too.

In the greenhouse, everything I pricked out last week seems to have survived the ordeal and they are looking quite perky. I only sowed my own sweetcorn seed last week but it has already germinated as have my cucumber (Burpless tasty green) the only variety I grow now, as it is in my opinion, the best. So have the trio of round courgettes, yellow, pale and dark green (Tricolour) I hope that there is a good mixture of colours. When they sell a packet of mixed seed like this how can you tell what colour the fruit is going to be. What to do? My plot is only small and I can't accommodate vast numbers of courgettes as they require lots of space, so I may end up with all of the same colour. I also sowed yellow and green patty pan squash; interestingly, the seed in the packet were two different colours, half were red and half were not, whether this was significant or not was not written anywhere on the packet; however, as yet these have not germinated, neither have the beans (yellow climbing) but it is early days.

Whilst walking round watering the plants on the plot, I noticed that the onion sets are sprouting and the potato leaves have started to poke through; they will need earthing up in a day or two. The potatoes that I potted up will also need to be topped up with compost little by little as the leaves come to the surface, to maximize the number of tubers in the pot.

The leaf beet, is still cropping from last year's planting. I cut it all right back about three weeks ago and I had loads of it to pick today for our supper. I find it is best to cut the whole plant down and wait for it to regenerate, this seems to be better than taking the biggest leaves from every plant. I have found that about a dozen plants provides sufficient for two people throughout the year. The radishes are cropping well now and I took home a lovely mixed bunch today.

The amount I still have left to do is frightening me. I can't see myself getting everything in the ground in time and being able to keep the plot tidy too. I hope the weather stays fine so that I have a fighting chance.