Greedy! Seeds and ….

Now it is confirmed. I am actually greedy. Not interested in gastronomy or gourmet items. Seeds, yes, I am greedy about seeds.

Each year I say I am going to grow less seeds – they need coddling; they fail and give you heartache; they succeed too well and you spend hours potting on. And each year I grow seeds.

This year was going to be different. I was going to be very restrained. I thought long and hard about the vegetables, which would we really eat a lot of, which varieties and just how many to plant – just 3 courgette seeds went in as we don’t need more than that; just two pots of beans and so on.

And then there were the flower seeds. We belong to the Hardy Plant Society and each year the members have a seed exchange. For £5 you can have over 20 packets of seeds – but I was restrained – I bought just 5 packets and my friend Nikki bought another 5 and shared the cost with me. But at the end of the form was a clever item. For just £1.50 you can be sent a collection of ‘leftover’ seeds, so Nikki and I gaily added one each of these to our order. Now these seeds are wonderful. Never too many in a packet, but some really interesting and unusual plants that are difficult to find in nurseries and garden centres. As they come from people’s gardens they are not guaranteed to succeed but still…

These ‘leftover’ seeds arrive on my doorstep this week. 25 packets in each envelope! And oh they were so different and interesting! A clematis stans in pale blue for instance (to add the 30+ clematis already in the garden); a nepeta that grows between 3 and 6 foot tall(!); seeds for a tulip; and many more that weren’t in my books and I had to look up on the Internet. I wanted so many! Greedy, greedy me.

In the end, I selected about 15 and now they the trays are in the greenhouse. How long before the tulip seeds flower I wonder? About as long as our wild bluebell seeds probably – 4 years perhaps?

The green house is full…. the spare room window ledge has all the veggie seedlings sprouting and I am panicking. We go away for 3.5 weeks in November and everything needs attention. Robert has agreed to come in to help while we are away but I wonder if he realises just how much there is to do?

… panic has really gripped me. He will have so many lists from me by the time we go!

The garden has promise for the autumn and winter. Two clematis are in flower and the wisteria is growing back. The autumn crocus have flowered and cyclamens are spreading across the front garden now we can see them having removed the big plants ready for the gravel to come later this winter. And the chrysanthemums look heavy with bud. The acers are beginning to turn too – but only one is showing great colour – the acer Japonicum –

– the others turn much later. So below are photos taken in previous years. I have around 12 acers in total of different sizes and types some tall and some spreading and they all change into different colours in spring and Autumn.