Planting Time - Well, Not Quite Yet

The weather's awful and much to cold to "go out and play in the garden". If there were enough sun to  to warm up the tunnel I could out there, but it is too dull and cold even for that - so I'll settle for working my way through my box of seeds and goodies and plan what's coming in a few weeks time.

Gardener's Delight

I have bought, begged, swapped and occasionally helped myself (the birds don't need all those berries...) to rather a lot of seeds and cuttings so it seemed a good idea to start getting myself organised so that I do get everything going from my Aladdin's Cave of seeds

So I started a spreadsheet. Right now its really just a list, but as time goes on it should help me keep track of my plants - where they are (greenhouse, cold frame, garden), at what stage of progress (being stratified, sown and waiting to germinate, stood in a bucket waiting for me to get out there with a spade....) and whether I have something planted for each of the uses I have in mind. It should make a useful working tool.

For those looking for supplies of seeds, cuttings etc, there are, let's face it, few things better than trawling through seed catalogs and web-sites, mining out nuggets of inspiration for next season's planting.

However, what is even better than this, is getting them as cheaply as possible, or even for free :-)

So, for a suggested list of places to get your new planting material from- I don't pretend that it's exhaustive and I am very much open to ideas

• Seed catalogs - my favourite is Chiltern Seeds. They have some kind of poet - or stand-up comedian, writing the plant descriptions
• Supplier's web-sites - often convenient, and you can of course order on the spot. Again, i have a favourite - "The Real Seed Company" They have a philosophy of only buying their seeds once and after that you save your seed and plant again next year. So, no F1 hybrids from them, but plenty of old and unusual heritage varieties fromthe days when seed saving was how most people would do it
• And on that theme, save your own seeds each year. Why buy what you already have?
• Seed swap sites - the best one I know, which I highly recommend, is Garden Swap Shop. I've had loads of stuff from there, and it cost me no more than seeds I already had and a stamp to post them. Compare that with anything from a couple of quid upwards for a packet of seeds and you don't have to take your socks off for it to add up and make sense
• Cuttings, tubers etc from your own and friends gardens. Don't forget that it is in the nature of plants to multiply - that is what they want to do. So if you want a plant you can see over the neighbour's fence, find out what it is and how it propagates. It may be dropping heavy hints to you in the form of sprouted seedlings, runners or bulbs in need of lifting and splitting. Ask your neighbour nicely for a bit - most people are happy to play at plant swapping. It's the classic case of giving nothing away and getting something for it
• For some plants, you can't avoid going by the expensive route. For example, I have half a dozen sweet chestnut whips mixed in with my hedging. They are the basic species, and it's anyone's guess exactly what they will produce by way of growth, appearance and nuts. However, I also want one (or more if space allows) of the named varieties. The same applies to the walnuts I would like to grow. This way I know what I will have in 20 years time. I don't want to wait that long and find I've got a dud.  For this you've either got to be able to get a sample and know how to graft it to a root stock, or more likely, go to a good supplier with a decent reputation. This time I have used The Agroforestry Research Trust. The price makes me blink but I have confidence in the end product.

So that's my list for today - I may come back and add to this post as more occurs to me, but for now, I'm going back to have a root in my box of seeds......