The garden beds are ready to go, so I am sitting with my feet up and trying to sort out what to plant. Any ideas?


Last summer I was given a care package from a keen gardener. She had put in some of the tastiest tomatoes I've had in long time. I am on the look out for some Black Russian seedlings to get into the soil in the hopes of recreating the wonder. The soil isn't quite warm enough so I have still got some time. There will have to be some cocktail tomatoes in there too, for little hands.

I've been reading about crop rotation, but am not sure if I want to commit an entire bed to brassicas. Maybe I will have changed my mind when the weather is turning cold again.

I could possibly plan my planting around a meal. I'm thinking of new potatoes, peas and strawberries for Christmas.


For now I am re-reading the Cook's Garden series. With 21 years between the first and latest books, they certainly stand up to time. They are written by three sister, one on the gardeing, one researching and one illustrating. Sure, the of varieties in the first book are limited by today's catalogs, but the advice is time hardy. I also like the researched histories of each salad plant and herb in the last two books. For instance, did you know that Shakespeare referred to rosemary 7 times in his plays and it was first reliably described by Pliny the Younger? None of which will help me to decide what to plant, but at least it leaves me feeling that people have been growing these things for a long time and will for a long time yet.