Seed order for 2006

Here is my seed order for next year which I will shortly be placing with Marshalls. It comes to £50, which actually sounds quite a lot. But the amount of vegetables I'll grow from this will far outweight the cost of the seeds.

Aubergene (Purple Beauty)
Broad Beans (Aquadulce Claudia, Feligreen)
Brocoli (Volta)
Butternut (Sprinter)
Cabbage (Puma, Red Rookie)
Carrots (Autumn King 2 Vita Longa, Sytan)
Courgettes (Zucchini, Gold Rush, Clarita)
French Beans (Maxi)
Leeks (Autumn Mammoth)
Lettuce (Mixed Lollos, Salad Bowl)
Parsnips (Tender & True)
Peas (Hurst Green Shaft, Kelvedon Wonder)
Peppers (Carnival Mixture)
Pumpkins (Spellbound)
Radishes (French Breakfast Sabina)
Rocket (Wild Olive Leaf)
Runner Beans (Enorma)
Savoy Cabbage (Mila)
Spinach (Campania)
Spring Onions (Red Furio, White Lisbon)
Squash (Festival, Sweet Dumpling)
Sweetcorn (Xtra Sweet Improved)
Tomatoes (Gardener's Delight, Mirabelle)

I'll also be buying shallots, onions and potatoes from the local garden center - and possibly some extra tomato plants too. Most of the things I'll be growing next year are the same as this year, but I'm planning on trying Aubergene for the first time and taking the unusual step (for me anyway) of growing Tomatoes from seed.

Getting on with the digging

Spent another couple of hours at the allotment last Saturday morning. It was my final 'session' for this year. There was an area towards the back of the plot, next to the row of raspberries, that has been 'wild' pretty much since I took the plot on. I'd never got around to digging it, so I've never been able to use it. But about six months ago I covered the heavily overgrown area with an old carpet and left it. On Saturday I peeled back the carpet and found that practically all of the undergrowth had died and rotted away, leaving pretty much plain earth. I forked it over and dug out all the roots (presumably couch grass) and then put the carpet back over. There's still a small section still to be dug, but when I've done that I'll put the remainder of the manure on top and hopefully the ground will actually be usable this year. It'll be great to have a bit more space for growing vegies. I also removed some of the soil pile from next to the compost bins that had been rotting down for ages, and spread it about on the plot. I'm gradually trying to clear the back row of the plot, next to the composters, to make some space to locate an extra wooden bin I'm planning on building at some point to house weeds that I don't plan on composting. They can be dumped in the bin until I get time to take them to the dump.

Also, after work last Friday I popped into the council offices to pay next year's rent (£9.75) for the allotment.