absence makes The Heart grow

Long time, no see

I've been a busy bee getting myself a full-time teaching job (hurrah!) and working in le jardin, so please excuse the absence; terribly rude, terribly rude.

SO, people say that absence makes the heart grow; and this is true...  Remember my 'Free Seeds' post?  Since sending the lovely people at Farm In My Pocket some stamped-addressed envelopes and I got some seeds! I am especially looking forward to their 'Heart of Catalonia' tomatoes (hence the post title- 'Oh ha haa', I hear you say).

tomatoes and a bean

My own tomato seedlings have been growing well (Ildi, Red Pear, Tigrella) and are turning into lovely little fellows; as well as a few beans, sunflowers and, most excitingly, some Costata Romanesco.  The Romanesco is an 'Heirloom' vegetable (this means that they are not a hybrid F1 plant and you can grow from their seeds year after year).

costata romanesco

I hope you've all been growing your tomatoes indoors, ready for putting outside in a few weeks?

Pruning last years' plants

I grew some chillis and some peppers last year; after they fruited and - in the case of the pepper - when they became dormant, I pruned them right back.

The benefit of doing this is that they begin to grow again early in spring (keep them on a warm windowsill during winter and spring).  This is quite energy efficient in terms of fruiting, as peppers and chillis grown from seed will have a much later fruit than these overwintered plants.

See just above right --> for my already flowering pepper!

My chillis still fruited over winter as I left them on a warm windowsill.  I pruned them last month and they began to sprout new leaves and flowers.  I'm starting to see new chillis develop already, hurrah.



There's not mushroom here...

We bought this mushroom kit from B&Q in February - only £5.98.  You get mushrooms in about 3 weeks (our first ones are pictured right).  It's so straight forward, always ensures your mushrooms are fresh as possible and the more you pick, the more you get.

Apparently you get three crops (three times your original number picked).  This is great! Saves time and money and they are so easy to grow... not to mention: fascinating.

and now, for the grand finale:

FREE Costata Romanesco seeds!

If you would like some Costata Romanesco (Heirloom veg) seeds for free - please send an SAE (with 1st class stamp on) to:

Pauper's Plot
130 Longden Road
Shrewsbury
Shropshire
SY3 7HT

The Romanesco is a beautiful vegetable, a sort of cross between a courgette and a squash.  It yields very attractive fruits that can be used, when young, as courgettes, or when marrow-sized they have a distinctively meaty, sweet flesh such as a squash.  They keep for months when mature - we had one stored for about 8 months!

Available until the end of May.

Enjoy.