We Grow Our OwnWhat we grow, what we cook, what we eat …

Another milestone today, as the first crops were planted in our plot.

When I poked my head out of the window on Saturday, it looked like the weatherman was right, and that Spring had finally sprung.

With all the bad weather recently, the good lady wife and myself decided we’d try to crack on with building the structure of the allotment, so that we could get some stuff in the ground sooner rather than later.

It took two nine hour days down the allotment, but in one weekend we went from this…

Currently my house is filled with chitting potatoes, and seedlings which desperately need another home.

Last week the Heritage Seed Library catalogue for 2010 arrived. As a member of the HSL I am allowed to make 6 choices from this list of non-commercial vegetable varieties, and can choose whether to receive a 7th ‘Lucky Dip’ packet as well.

Like a lot of HSL members I’m concerned by the control big business has over the food chain and the resulting loss of biodiversity. The Heritage Seed Library work to safeguard rare vegetable varieties, that were once the mainstay of British gardens.

Today I’m busy planning what I’m going to put in my new plot, and I’ve decided to indulge in a little companion planting. I thought it wouldn’t do any harm to give it a try!

I found this link to be useful. The BBC website has a good guide to companion planting.

Hopefully it will all work, and we won’t have to use too many nasties to get rid of the bugs that will munch our plants, and it will also encourage some friendly bugs to visit instead!

We’ll hopefully be able to pick up the keys to get into our plot this weekend. If we can, I’ll take my camera and post some pictures, so you can see the ‘before’ shots!