New product at Suttons Seeds

‘Must-have’ Veg Collection £9.99
A bumper crop of delicious, nutritious veg! Nothing beats the delicious taste of freshly-harvested veg, and in this collection we have put together a selection of ‘must-have’ varieties.
Comprises: 86 plants (18 Plug Plants of Beetroot Boltardy, 9 Cabbage Frostie, 9 Cauliflower All Year Round, 25 Leek Musselburgh, 25 Onion Santero) plus packs of seeds of Broccoli Purple Sprouting, Runner Bean Armstrong, Carrot Resistafly and Parsnip Tender & True.. .
Full growing instructions included..
Delivery will be in May.

Why I think this is a great buy for gardeners.
It offers you a variety of plug plants ready to plant out just as the last frosts are coming. It takes all the effort out of trying to grow plants from seed indoors. It’s a great idea for anyone with limited windowsill space or no coldframe or greenhouse. It’s ok starting seeds off on a windowsill but when they need potting on you need more room. This is why this plant and seed pack is so good. It’ll all arrive in May – so gives you plenty of time to prepare the soil for the plants.
It removes the stress of buying several packets of seeds and having to start them all off, and if you’ve not got a heated propagator then it’ll save you worries about seeds getting too cold too! It’s an effective and efficient way of gardening. Let the experts start your plants off for you.
The carrots and parsnips can be sown straight in the ground. The runner beans can be started in pots or planted out to grow but will need a bit of cover if a frost threatens.
If you’ve always wanted to grow more plants then this is the way of discovering just how easy vegetable growing can be.

Gardening is easy if you have a little help and advice from friends and experts. On most allotment sites there will be at least one person who’s been growing vegetables for years. Experience brings with it the advantages of knowing how many seeds to plant to feed a family with a particular vegetable, dealing with pests and problems and spotting things that need to be done.
Most people on allotment sites are happy to share their info and some will even share excess plants they have. Years of experience also mean plenty of equipment like heated propagators, cold frames, and greenhouses which mean they’ll be growing more seed earlier than most other people.
You don’t have to ask them for plants anymore though! You can buy a simple pack of plug plants that will be delivered in May to your door and enable you to enjoy growing vegetables after someone else has done all the hard work of starting them off.

More common in supermarkets now, but rarely grown.

Sweet potato offer at Suttons Seeds

Sweet Potato Beauregard Plants £12.99
Traditionally sweet potatoes have been grown from ‘slips’, but quality can be poor and results disappointing.
At Suttons They have been working to supply a better product, hence the introduction of Pot Ready Plants, produced on their nursery from virus-free stock.
These are well-rooted and actively growing, they are a significant improvement on traditional ‘slips’.
Simply pot and grow on in a frost-free environment until June, then either re-pot or plant into the garden and you should be harvesting your very own sweet potatoes this autumn!Beauregard can produce good crops of medium sized tubers in British growing conditions. The tubers have that distinctive salmon-orange flesh with a sweet pronounced flavour packed full of vitamins and iron. Simply boil, steam, bake or mash for a delicious meal.
Pack of 10 Pot Ready Plants. Full growing instructions included.. . . .

Sounds a fab way to get started growing these rather lovely vegetables. So sweet sometimes you should just pour a bit of cream on them and eat them out of the skins as dessert!
I like roasting them. Give them a wash and dry, then prick all over with a fork. Put in a roasting tin. You can tell how sweet they are as they cook and the juices come out and caramelise. I serve them as veg but you can mash them and use them in other recipes too.

Nice selection of Shallots available at Suttons Seeds.
Easy to grow and many people think they’re better to grow than onions. PLant in a fine tilthed bed of soil that hasn’t been manured recently.
The shallots grow in bunches around the original set. You can store them like that after lifting until you want to use them.
Perfect for pickling.

Pete Platt’s perfect pickled shallots – a few hints: Dry the shallots in the sun or the loft for a few days. Salt, rinse and pat dry. This makes them extra crisp. Add a little sugar to the vinegar. Use unspiced vinegar and spice it yourself.

Shallot Sets Yellow Moon £3.79
An attractive and tasty, round, yellow dutch shallot, with excellent skin quality and a low sensitivity to bolting, enabling early planting. Produces a good crop of healthy shallots. Plant from December onwards.. 400g Pack. Unpack on arrival, and spread out in a cool, light place. Plant from the suggested dates onwards as weather conditions permit. Allow approximately 30cm (12″) between rows and 15cm (6″) between bulbs. Lift crop when leaves turn yellow, dry in sunshine, and store under cool, dry frost-free conditions. 400g of shallots (approximately 15-20 bulbs) will plant a row of about 3m (10′). Full growing instructions included.. . . .

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Suttons Seeds have this fab Brussels sprouts seeds available

Brussels Sprout F1 Crispus Seeds £2.99
Very well adapted to growing under stressed conditions, reliably producing good crops of smooth, dark green sprouts, that hold well.

Pick from September to November. Club Root resistant variety.. Average Packet Content 35 Seeds. Not just for Christmas! If suitable varieties are chosen, fresh sprouts will be available for picking from September to early spring. (30-36 weeks maturity).
When you should plant these seeds:
Sow March-early April outdoors or in frames.

Why plant this variety –
This F1 hybrid varieties produce a larger yield per plant of better quality. The sprouts also ‘hold’ for longer on the stem in good condition.. . . .
Why sprouts are good for you
HEALTH BENEFITS: Good source of vitamin C and fibre. COOKING TIPS: Cut cross on base of sprout and boil for minimum time.

From a budget point of view they offer good value on winter veg. You’ll get maybe 30 sprouts per stem (Should get more perhaps on this plant) but they are ready at different times, with the ones at the bottom being ready first. So you’ll need enough stems to feed your family.
As a side vegetable I generally put 5 sprouts per person (With another veg being served) so work out based on getting 2-5 sprouts a plant at a time how many plants you’ll need. YOu can never have too many sprout plants either!
They’ll freeze if you have a glut and your neighbours will no doubt be happy to have any you don’t eat yourself!

Good for fruit because of the potash in it.
Only wood ash though, not coal!

Apparently gooseberries thrive with a good sprinkling and it helps deter sawfly pests!

If the packet says you can plant from February to May then bear a few simple pointers in mind:

– If you live in the north then plant later. It’s warmer in the south so they can usually plant sooner.
– if your soil is wet then don’t plant. They’ll rot.
– if your soil is frosty or covered in snow then hold off planting.

Parnsips have an appalling germination rate if you plant them too soon. They like the soil to have warmed up a bit!
Don’t plant a whole packet at once. Plant half, or quarter and then again a few weeks – either finish a row or start a new one.

This list will depend on whether you like making jam or not. If you don’t then I can recommend strawberries and raspberries as well as almost all fruit trees. If you like making jam then add blackcurrants to the list.
The reason for making jam is to preserve the flavour of fruit for the winter.

Plant a fruit tree in your garden if you have room. If you don’t have much space get a dwarf one!

Salad leaves are really popular. These will range from individual lettuces (flat and hearted) to mixed leaves that can be picked time and time again, or microleaves for gracing the dantiest of dishes. Grow in tubs or raised areas away from slugs or use a nemotode product aimed at getting rid of slugs.
Radishes are probably the easiest thing to grow. Look out for aerial rats tail radishes (I have spare seeds at the moment) as they look like chilis and are a little hot!
Runner beans are mouthwateringly good freshly picked. I rate them above peas. Grow plenty and then feed the neighbours too or fill the freezer.
Peas are fantastic straight from the pods. You can never plant too many peas. If you get bored of them then your neighbours will love you for giving them a bag of peas in the pod. Don’t forget that the fresh bits of pea plant are also tasty.

Carrots are delicious and if you have light sandy soil you’ll grow really good ones. For harder more clay soils use tubs of sandy compost.

Courgettes are amazing when you’ve watched them grow over a few days. You can even eat the flowers battered if that’s what takes your fancy! A couple of plants that are well fed and watered will produce tons of courgettes for you and your neighbours. If at the end of the season you discover one you’ve missed picking and it’s huge then save this for halloween carving!

Leeks – not too difficult if you start off in a pot and transplant. And grow enough and you’ll be eating leek and potato soup for months during the winter!
Potatoes are unbeatable for flavour when you plant first earlies – or new potatoes as they’re known. Not complicated to grow and helps clear new land.
Cabbage is something that sounds difficult but isn’t. If you like you can buy the plants ready grown as seedlings ready to into the right place on your plot.
Tomatoes. It’s the smell of tomatoes growing in a greenhouse that evokes so many thoughts of delicious tomatoes. They always taste better than shop bought. Cherry, plum or normal! All sorts of colours too. Need greenhouse or similar space for getting good results – outdoor tomatoes more tricky.

Read the City Cottage magazine – a great free gardening and allotment magazine! Fab new mag from the talented Paul Peacock aka Mr Digwell

Chas and His Rock’n’Roll Allotment is a book by Chas from Chas and Dave.

Chas and His Rock ‘N’ Roll Allotment
features a series of vignettes and anecdotes about his life as both a famous musician and amateur gardener. –Welwyn Hatfield Times

This has to be the most hilarious gardening book I’ve ever read. –Mike Hallowell, The Shields Gazette

Judging by this book the cheeky Cockney musician seems to be at home as much in the allotment as he is on stage. –Rural Life Magazine.

Chas and His Rock n Roll Allotment is a gardening book like no other. Written by Chas Hodges, better known as half of musical duo Chas and Dave, the book is full of funny stories and anecdotes interspersed with the author s tips for growing your own . The book is aimed at the novice gardener and aims to prove that hoeing and sowing can be an enjoyable way to while away an afternoon and that tending a garden should be fun, rather than a chore. Chas s pearls of wisdom are drawn from personal experience of getting his hands dirty, rather than text book gardening techniques, and his light hearted approach makes the book an easy read. So if the idea of Sunday roast accompanied by your own home grown vegetables appeals to you, this book tells you how. And if all that digging proves to be just too much, you can always settle down with a pint of beer and enjoy the tongue-in-cheek humour of a born raconteur.

I think that means he knows how to rabbit. 🙂