Tuesday 28 January 2014

Thrifty Seeds ... A Quick Update..


Hello there ...
just a bit of a catch up ...

We worked today ... cold and damp .. the usual at the moment .... but I have noticed .. 
in the last few days .. longer daylight hours... Hurrah!!

As we stood ... huddled with other stall holders ... early morning mugs of hot coffee in our hands .. the sun sent tentative streaks out across a damp rainy sky ... well before 7 am ... and its well past 5pm when the darkness comes.



The cress seeds I sowed have come up ... 
nice bit of fresh green ... 
nice egg and cress on a sandwich or with a bit of salad.



And today the veggie man had some of these lovely fresh baby potatoes ... all scrubbed ... just ready to be tipped in a pan.
Ideal for tea .. with a nice pork steak and slice of black pudding ...

Bonus/bargain of the day ... this useful little tray the potatoes came in.


How super is this .. what can I use it for?



Well as it happens .. it just accommodates two egg box 'bottoms'... if you know what I mean.
Just the thing for starting off my seeds .. I will just sow a few .. I haven't the space for lots and lots of plants.
I can slide the tray into a poly bag to act as a little propagator.




The seeds I sent for have come ... again a real bargain .. just £2.49 for 7 packs.
They are only small packs .. but as i said .. I only need a few .. ideal for me.



The pack consists of three types of tomatoes (Roma ...Cherry Balconi and Moneymaker) .. two of lettuce ... Lisbon Onions and a cucumber.  
I have lots of other packs 'staples' from last year .. so I should have a good mix of veggies ... it all helps keep the cost down .. and there is nothing like fresh from the garden.
All I need now is a small bag of compost and the seeds can get a start ... 

Lets hope we have a good growing year ... have many of you got your seeds in? ... or is it still a bit early?

xx

11 comments:

  1. Just starting on seeds now.
    Maincrop onions already sown and some peppers. oh yes and some snap dragons. Need to start the tomatoes soon, but plenty of time for most things. Wish I had sown some cress... I had a couple of eggs spare and the sandwiches are a bit boring without some green
    Gill

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  2. hello vicky , i have been saving anything that can double up as a seed tray/ pot , but never thought of putting them in to a plastic bag , thats a genius idea , thanks for the tip, eileen x

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  3. I am itching to get planting but I have nowhere to put seeds at the moment, and it's way too wet to even contemplate digging any outside beds for now :-(

    I've noticed the slightly longer days too, as have the chickens ... the egg numbers are creeping back up.

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  4. I love egg and cress sandwiches, I hope your fluffy girls oblige and lay you an egg or two. Lots of lovely bloggy ladies are sewing seeds just now, I think I will join you all and sew some pepper seeds tomorrow. Great idea for a free propagator, it seems such a waste to throw away trays when they can be put to good use. Xx

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  5. A bit early for me as no decent protection from wind and cold at the moment.
    I have been given a greenhouse but, it needs dismantling and re-erecting here, just don't know how I'm going to get that done!
    I too use the plastic trays and yogurt pots,ice cream containers etc. I also make plantpots from loo roll inners - cut four slits in one end of the roll about 1" equally, fold in and voila! one little pot to set your seeds in and the whole lot can be planted out as the cardboard rots down.
    If a lid from one of the containers is cracked/split, I cut this up into labels for the plants/seeds, writing the name of the plant on the 'white' side with a CD marker pen.

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  6. I grow cress all the year round, as well as egg it goes well with soft cheese. I ran out last year and used some cabbage and lettuce seed, they grew just like cress and I cut them when they were about 2" tall. The taste was different but very nice.

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    Replies
    1. That's a great idea, I found I had some mixed salad leaf seeds left from last year in our cupboards. I think I have some cress seed but when that runs out I will use what I have. Thanks

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  7. No seeds started here yet. I have a little plastic greenhouse but daren't put that back up until the weather improves a bit. It cheers me up no end to read of what everyone else is doing though, and I still plan to have some veg in the ground as usual this year, but on a lesser scale (because of my recent health problems).

    With tomatoes, I let the world and his wife grow them from seed and wait until there is an absolute glut of all sorts at the car boot sales and pick them up for next to nothing. Heirloom seeds too I have found in recent years.

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  8. No seeds planted here yet. Our last frost date is mid May, and it is a long time to keep plants going inside....but in a bit I will start...
    Tell me what you wear to stay warm in the long hours you spend outdoors at the sales. The cold here goes right to the bone. I love silk long underwear and have taken to wearing my thinnish bedroom slippers in my wellies when I am working in the barn (with socks, too...)

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  9. ooh egg and cress, one of my absolute favourites!
    The seeds are a great idea, the regular packets hold far too many.

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  10. I`ve got some potatoes chitting at the moment. Not having a greenhouse means I will have to hold off with sowing anything else as yet. I have bought a bag of compost last week, so I can get started end of March with tomatoes. I`ve been in my garden last weekend and dug some compost into areas for tomatoes and pumpkin. I`m determined to grow at least one good pumpkin this year. I`m going to sow radishes in mid February outside. No need to buy any seeds as I`ve still got plenty from the last two years when I didn`t get around to growing much.

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