New Year New Seed Choices
I am looking through the seed catalogues and getting excited as I choose new varieties of my usual favourites. I’ll definitely enjoy trying the wild tomato Golden Currant that I blogged in a recent post available from stormy-hall-seeds based in N. Yorkshire. Here they grow, process, test and distribute biodynamic vegetable, herb and flower seeds. They have a wide range of varieties on offer some sourced from other similar seed-producing companies in Europe. All the seeds are gathered from organic crops and offer open-pollinated and pure line varieties as alternatives to hybrids. By so doing they retain and care for well-tried varieties in order to ensure their continued development and availability.
I plan to purchase seeds of the carrot Oxhella described as sweet and juicy and a bright orange colour. And a beetroot Tondo di Chioggia which has white rings in its bright red flesh. I also want to try growing celeriac in 2013 and Monarch should store well. The leek King Richard is good for late summer and autumn harvest and is difficult to find so I am excited to see this on their list. Five Colours leaf beet is described as a vibrant mix of white, yellow, orange, red and violet-coloured stems with light to dark green leaves. Sounds awesome so I shall purchase seeds of this. And Feltham First peas because they are very early croppers and can be sown in late winter and I am longing to get my hands in the soil again. 
With more rain preventing even getting outside to look at the garden I decided to cut six hellebore flowers from the pots on the terrace. These plants have given me such pleasure gently blooming for the last six weeks and continuing to look bonny and healthy whatever the weather.
I am steadily working my way through the latest Ottolenghi cook book Jerusalem and today I made this recipe Mejadra to take to a party. It will be served warm with other Middle Eastern dishes and I can highly recommend it for feeding lots of people and for making a few hours ahead of the event. It’s delicious and Sami and Yotam say it is one of their most loved dishes…’the fried onion with its sweet oiliness and slight crunch, is the secret’.
Backlane Designs – Not on the High Street
I’m just working my way through seed catalogues too. Of course, my plot is never going to be big enough to cope with everything I want to grow so some serious whittling down will be required. I can definitely recommend Celeriac ‘Prinz’. That’s the variety I grew last year. I think the key to celeriac is starting it off really early, I sowed mine in Feb and serious amounts of water once growing in the ground. The perfect crop for 2012.
I grew chioggia too. I really liked it, although it took a while to get going. It’s hard to know whether that was due to the weather, me or that is its habit. Happy growing in 2013. Best wishes, WW x
Thanks for the celeriac tip and yes to anything that allows me to progress the allotment beds and to start sowing again. The earlier I can get my fingers in the compost and seed trays the better as far as I am concerned. And huge congratulations on your allotment book commission When is the publication date?
Thank you. Not till next spring. It seems an age away but I just need to knuckle down to writing, oh and growing. Trying to get back into some sort of routine after the Christmas break is not proving to be easy.