Ordering Seeds Online and Improving the Greenhouse

Improving the Greenhouse

Although the weather isn’t too bad, I thought it a bit damp to strating digging over more on the plot so attended to the greenhouse at home.


Between the top of the window and the lintel outside there is a gap of about 10mm when you look closely. No wonder we had a draft into the office! So filled that with silicone and also the point where the greenhouse meets the facia board on the single story flat roof.


Hopefully that will stop water dripping into the greenhouse. The next job is to tap into the power cable that supplies the sheds to give me a socket in the greenhouse and a light. I’m going to cannibalise a weatherproof junction box and switch that was supplying a pond pump. The fishpond was here when we moved in along with the fish.


The previous owners and their dog having gone, next door but one’s cat promptly arrived to teach our cats the art of fishing. So we got the previous owners to remove their remaining fish and it is now a very deep bed.


Ordering seeds


Time to place the actual seed order. We picked up some seeds on a ‘buy one get one free’ offer at Wilkinsons last night but the bulk of the requirement was split between Dobies, D T Brown and The Organic Gardening Catalogue.


D T Brown’s site is OK but the Organic Gardening Catalogue’s site is superb. Easy, clear, quick and easy to use. It’s based on OS Commerce, a free script as well. Just goes to show what people can do for love is often much better than that done for money!


Dobies site is broken! I couldn’t place an order. As a web designer I despair that people pay good money for site that you can’t even use. It’s funny how often I see slick corporate style sites that are great if you have a big monitor on broadband and the eyes of a twenty year old. I tend to design for everyone and being older pay special attention to clarity. My eyes were never brilliant but they were better 30 years ago.


So, what did I buy in the end?


Wilkinsons



  • Onion, Bedfordshire Champion – A fine old standard cultivar

  • Cabbage, Fuego F1 (Red cabbage) – Supposed to hold well

  • Brussels Sprout, Wellington F1 – Late season cv maturing in December and holding to March

  • Pepper, generic hot cayenne – Sometime cheap seeds perfform really well, we’ll see.

  • Broccoli, autumn calabrese – As above, another trial

  • Pumpkin, Jack O’Lantern – Not as big as the mammoth ones last year so I hope the kids will be satisfied without my back being broken!

  • Squash, Winter Butternut – (looks like a cobnut on the packet)

  • Beetroot, Baby Solist – A monogerm cv to please Val with baby beets

D T Brown



  • Tomato, Ailsa Craig – An old cv supposed to have good flavour and was only 2p

  • Onion, Ailsa Craig Prizewinner – Another tried and tested cv

  • Carrot, Senior F1 – supposed to do well in poor soils, maincrop

  • Spring Onion, North Holland Blood red Redmate – my favourite spring onion when left to bulb up

  • Salsify, Sandwich Island – never grown before so should be interesting

  • Spring Onion, Shimonita -a Japanese variety that is a little like a leek in style

The Organic Catalogue



  • CALABRESE, Chevalier F1 – medium size heads with good secondary spears

  • CALABRESE, Romanesco – a strange looking green pyramid cauliflower

  • SQUASH, Butternut – proven grower with good keeping qualities, except when nicked from the plot

  • PEPPER, Golden Californian Wonder – proven standard

  • SPRING ONION, Ramrod 10g – White Lisbon type and is also winter hardy so I’ve ordered a large pack

  • CABBAGE, Marner Lagerrot – red cabbage with good storing properties

  • HOT PEPPER, Habanero – this will spice up a few curries

Dobies – I worked out the problem and for a small fee can explain it to them!



  • Garlic Bulbs 2 of Albigensian Wight – large bulbs with good keeping qualities

  • Garlic Bulbs 2 of  Solent Wight – another large bulb cv

  • Dwarf French Beans Borlotto Firetongue – produces red and white beans suitable for dry storing

  • Onion, Red Baron – a good standard for eating raw that stores well

  • Cauliflower Aalsmeer – frost hardy late cv

  • Cauliflower Mayflower F1 – earliest summer cv

  • Cauliflower Purple Graffiti – couldn’t resist this, a purple cauliflower!

So that’s it now for the ordering. Next job will be sorting out what wants sowing when,

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