04 Feb - Sarpo Mira & Season's Start

Wow, it's February already, time is simply flying though Spring still can't come soon enough for me. My blight resistant Sarpo Mira main crop potatoes arrived from Thompson & Morgan on the 19 January - they were well boxed up and delivered quickly. I unpacked them immediately and set them chitting with the earlies and second earlies. Hopefully they will do well for me this year as they did last season. (Below - the Sarpo Mira arrive).

The weather has been pretty cold most nights since the last week of January to the start of February. On the 29 Jan we had some really heavy snow showers but it didn't stick on the ground though my local mountain looked pretty white for some days. There's been ice most mornings in the water barrels at the allotment and I've taken to storing the hens' drinking water in the shed at night to stop it going solid. (Below - my allotment shed is in the background there somewhere).

I've still been taking vegetables from the plot despite the weather. I've plenty of sprouts, savoy cabbage, swede and leeks though I'm down to my last parsnips. The leeks are looking a little tattered on the ends but are still thick and tasty. My Winter store is getting depleted now - the butternut squashes are down to the last one or or two though I've a fair number of hybrid squashes and Sweet Dumpling; still the squashes have lasted well. There's also still a load of onions in storage along with carrots in the freezer. (Below - just one or two parsnips left).

This week I'll be digging out the heated propagator and starting off my leeks - I suppose the 2015 season has already started with the spuds chitting away but, it will really feel like things are on the move with a bit of seed sowing. Until then, bye for now.