Time for Happy Seed Hunting!
Posted:25 January 2014
Due to the mild weather we’ve had here in Brighton, we’ve had a surprising number of plants in flower over the past few weeks we counted over thirty different flowering plants on Christmas day (!) and now early bulbs and snowdrops are starting to make a welcome appearance.
One of the things we love to do during the cold months is to choose seeds for the spring, experimenting with new varieties of flowers and vegetables.
New plants we’ve spotted include, from America, a new cherry tomato called Rosella the claim is that it has an intensely fruity flavor and can be grown both inside and out. Maybe plant with basil as an ideal accompaniment – the problem is basil is not fond of our climate, however we have spotted a new variety called British Outdoor which we’ll be trying it is even supposed to endure light frosts so should be interesting!
Two new vegetable varieties are a carrot with very red flesh called Atomic Red the colour apparently intensifies with cooking and a new lettuce called Intred which looks very much like a colourful Little Gem with red on its outer leaves and a pink heart.
The UKs biggest and longest running community seed swop event, Seedy Sunday, is taking place in the Corn Exchange in Brighton on Sunday 2nd February. It’s a brilliant place to pick up new, old and exciting varieties of seed, and even to swop seeds of your own for free!
The Garden House will be there along with many other exciting stalls. There are also talks, see Seedy Sunday Talks Programme 2014 talks include local gardener and garden writer Steve Bustin offering an informal introduction to basic sowing and growing for beginners (or those feeling a little rusty); Peter May from Brighton Permaculture Trust talking about their collection of Sussex varieties of apple trees at Stanmer Park; and Bob Flowerdew, one of the UK’s foremost proponents of organic gardening and a regular panellist on Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time Bob will be talking about organic gardening.
We look forward to seeing you there!