Wenger winger wanger

I had a good old tidy up in the garage (my potting shed) at the weekend and started emptying the sand barrels so I feel at last as if I've made a start on things in the garden now. It was a good weekend, but then it always is when Man U win and the Racists (Liverpool FC) lose, although it was a good job the Arsenal manager has suddenly become unable to spot a good player at 10 paces. Taking off Oxlade-Chamberlain made no sense at all.

If you haven't ordered your seed spuds then you need to get on and do it quickly, but order from a reputable Scottish supplier such as JBA or (at the risk of making him even richer) my facially impaired pal Dave T at Exhibition Seed Potatoes (ESP). The garden centres are now stocking bags of the common kitchen varieties as well as a few of the usual showbench favourites but don't think that just because it says 'certified' on the label you're getting the best. 'Certified' is actually one of the lowest ratings and basically the dross that the scots send down to us sassenachs. However, If you order direct from such as JBA's online shop you'll be guaranteed basic or pre-basic seed which are actually the best grades. Oh how I bet they laughed their tits off dreaming up those names whilst roasting their haggis round their campfires one night to try and confuse us! At the risk of giving my friend Iain Barbour of JBA palpitations at what i'm about to say, I saved a tray of Kestrel and NVS Amour for this season's seed rather than buying in new. In theory the offspring can be kept going for 7 or 8 years as I understand it, as long as the resultant crop remains virus-free. I shall probably not risk that, but get new stock in a couple of seasons time to be on the safe side. I'm only growing the two varieties for show this season as I only need a single plate of 5 for Malvern and both these varieties performed great for me last season. At my wife's insistence i'm also growing a few Maris Piper for kitchen use only, probably in the ground rather than bags.



My 'seed' spuds are now laid out in trays with an old towel over them on the coldest of nights which also stops them chitting. In late Feb I'll remove the covers and allow chitting to start, although I won't start planting until mid to late April. I saved a variety of sizes, as you can get a good crop from even a marble sized tuber. Many growers insist on hen's egg sized seed but it makes no difference to the size of showable tubers, it's all down to how you grow them. But I did make sure all saved tubers were disease free and had good splashes of colour around the eyes as Kestrel in particular has been prone to losing its colouring. Very often you think you've unearthed a tuber that is totally colour free but be careful as there are very often the tiniest of lilac specks that the judge will surely spot if you're cheeky enough to try some Kestrel in a white class.

The last of my seed order arrived last week from Shelley's. I like Shelley's. I've never had a bad batch of seed from them in 15 years and you always get a personal, hand-written letter from James Shelley wishing you all the best for the next season. Never met the fella but i'm sure he's a top bloke. So now I have all my packets of seed to hand apart from one. I realised last weekend that I haven't ordered any long carrot seed from anyone so I need to get some sorted pretty damn quickly. I may have to be nice to Dave T but that's a proposition I don't want to entertain just yet.