Today I ordered some cucumber seeds, Carmen, from Thompson and Morgan, as advised by a forum member. I also ordered cauliflower and tomato seeds to make the order worthwhile. The cucumber seeds are very expensive at £7.99 for five but on a special deal at the moment the most expensive packet of seeds is free so even with delivery charges it was a good price.

Cucumber Carmen A unique all female variety with resistance to all known strains of powdery mildew, scab and leaf-spot. Fruits are bitter free and produced in abundance – 50-100 per plant. Ideal for organic gardeners. Easy to train and day length sensitive. For maximum yield plant after 1st March. Sow singly from late winter onwards ½” deep in 3″ pots of moist compost. Germination usually takes 7-10 days. Transplant at the 2-3 leaf stage into 5″ pots and then into final position. Train up the main shoot to top of wire and then either pinch out the growing point or tie along the roof of the greenhouse. Keep moist but not wet, apply shading as required and provide a moist, warm atmosphere. Regular picking will encourage fruiting.

 

The seed potatoes from Alan Romans arrived today and are now sitting in their egg boxes. This year we aren’t planting as many potatoes and the varieties we have gone for are Charlotte and International Kidney, both of which gave us a good harvest last year, and three we haven’t tried before, Rocket, Maxine and Annabelle. The Rocket were grown by some of the other plot holders last year and gave a good crop of earlies with a nice taste. Maxine is a nice looking bright red early Maincrop. Annabelle is a white early salad potato. We plan to grow all the potatoes in tubs this year and give them some cover too if we can, to try to avoid the blight which took most of our crop last season.

Things are beginning to get exciting now and I can’t wait to get some seeds sown. Hopefully tomorrow we shall be able to go and buy some compost and vermiculite. Watch this space……..