Well, what I really want to know is, what are you doing about seeds this year? My favourite little Welsh seed company has been overwhelmed by orders, and due to social distancing in the seed packing sheds, can’t take any more orders until February. The local garden centre where I normally get my seed potatoes from, has closed it’s doors indefinitely, because they feel it is the right thing to do, to reduce the spread of Covid. I can’t bear to undermine their honourable decision by going somewhere else. Especially as the next nearest option is a garden centre who suddenly started stocking all sorts of non-gardening ‘essentials’ to stay open through the first lockdown, and whose staff always look so sad, and I don’t think know one end of a plant from another. I’ve had a pear tree on order from an online company since last august, delayed by staffing difficulties, although promised to arrive before the end of the planting season.
I think I may go back to Sarah Raven for my seeds. We had vouchers for Christmas and I splashed out, with a little help from Little Owl, on new dahlias for the allotment from her. Sarah is very reliable. But what about the spuds? My Dad scoffs at chitting any year, and this year more than ever. He’s planted fields of potatoes in his life, none of them chitted, and they all did fine. He says, hold hard (classic Dadism), and they’ll come to no harm going straight into the ground. Of course, that relies on my garden centre re-opening at some point before March. Oh the conundrums! What it has convinced me of, and I think many others are thinking the same, is the need to save more of my own seed. I had saved a few things this year, but my cornflowers were non-existent, and my broad beans were a disaster. Right, Sarah Raven it is… and this year, I’ll save more seed!
