Just Dandy

You know, you go about your business, keeping your own counsel, not offending others, quietly offering kind words of gentle encouragement to others less facially blessed than yourself, and then the minute your football team (that you hardly ever mention) suffers a reverse they're all texting or emailing such vile abuse it really does take your breath away. It's at times like that I wonder if they really deserve me. I just hope when they're rocking back and forth in their Yorkshire Retirement Homes for Crap Veg Showmen they're slapped about by their carers.


At the weekend I still had 5 trays of onions sets 'Setton' that were positively crying out to be planted and there was no way I was going to get more wooden planters done in time before going away this Sunday. Therefore I decided they would have to take their chances in my white rot infested soil, and whilst I have never grown onions in this patch of land before, white rot is so easily transferred via tools and footfall that I'm resigned to at least losing a percentage of them. However, at least I should harvest plenty from the raised beds and I do find Setton is pretty uniform when harvested at a set size and colours up nicely. I may be tempted to try them in the 250g classes at Harrogate and Malvern as there's nothing in the rules to say they should be grown from seed! Also, I still have four trays of Vento but these are a tad small as yet so these will have to wait until my return.

I also gave my 'Evening Star' celery their first potting from the cell trays.

I sowed these a fortnight later than last year as I found they were running out of steam by Malvern and Westminster last season. I also need to make a mental note to take a really sharp knife with me to the shows for trimming the roots, having found to my cost last season that a blunt one doesn't quite finish them off as neatly as one would like! I only grew 10 plants last season but have given up one of my long raised beds solely to celery production this season, and reckon I can fit about 24 in this and other smaller beds. I shall also be erecting a mesh windbreak around them as it does get a little exposed in high wind. As you can also see the shallots need splitting before the weekend.

However, the wind we've had is apparently nowt when compared to what they've been suffering up in Yorkshire where Dan has been bemoaning a few gusty days with 40mph winds (I fart harder than that!) that have apparently rendered his already minuscule chances of beating me in this year's BBC virtually hopeless. All joking apart I would actually urge you to go onto Dan's website and watch some of his splendid educational videos. This week he's showing how he changes his colostomy bag.