Allotment checkup

Went and had a nose at the allotment today. Poor old lottie is looking a tad neglected. I half-heartedly pulled a few dead corn stalks up, but realised that I needed something a bit more substantial to make a dint in the healthy covering of chickweed that seems to have smothered the beds. Oh well, I can just dig it in as green manure, I suppose.

Also, I've been perusing the seed catalogues. Which is incredibly dangerous, as I really don't need any more seed. I have enough seed in the fridge in the storeroom to last me for years and years and years. But, still, I have to look. Call it window shopping...

Last year I bought the 'medium homestead package' from Baker Creek Seeds in the US. Oh, man... there were so many seeds. So many wonderful, varied, exotic seeds in that packet. All heirloom, rare, or just plain old fashioned varieties, all open-pollinated. I spent hours drooling over packets with names like 'Red Ripper Cow-Pea' and 'Hopi Blue Corn', 'Black From Tula tomato' and 'Red Warty Thing winter squash'. 'Christmas Pole Limas' are so beautiful in themselves they demand to be admired and displayed, let alone eaten - I'm advised that they are divine to eat, when you manage to grow enough in this climate to afford to use some for actually eating.

And that's my problem - they are from the US, so some things just won't grow in the British climate. ::: sigh ::: I'm doing more stuff in my greenhouse this year (now there's another saga - remind me later), so I'm going to put a few vines of Lima beans and the like in a corner.

One day, I'll finish cataloguing my seeds... till then, here are a few of my favourite seed websites. Enjoy. :)

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Tamar Organics

Vida Verde

Will stop there, or I'll have people shouting at me. :D