In The Garden This Week

Sowing for the village plant sale

Every year in the village hall or neuadd as they say in Welsh they hold a plant sale to raise funds for the upkeep and running of the hall. Living only two doors away we often see events happening in there and when possible pop or head in for a look around. At last years sale we had been out for the day and just caught the end of it so there wasn't much left to buy.

We regularly receive a newsletter full of the latest gossip from the surrounding villages, the latest edition was advertising on the front cover for plants to sell. As anyone who grows their own knows you always end up with a surplus of seeds at the end of the year so to pot up a few for a good cause seemed like a great idea.

Rather than go for something plain I've sown some French beans named purple queen and a couple of trays of sugarsnap peas called Sugar bon. On top of this every year my herb garden is taken over with wild strawberries. The plants in the sun are already flowering however a lot of the runners have spread into shady areas so these won't do so well. So far I've potted up twelve plants, they are shallow rooted and pull up easily. I think I could pot up at least another fifty without effecting my harvest, by midsummer I'm sure they'll be carpeting the floor again.