Now you’re probably wondering why I’ve picked three packs of seeds from Dobies, and three from Thompson & Morgan – well I was sent a £5 voucher from Dobies as a Christmas present for being on their mailing list, and spotted T&M had the same offer on their facebook page. So even though I had to pay postage, I was able to save £10.

Starting from the top line we have…

• Radish – Dragon F1 (Dobies). Last year’s radish seeds were reasonably successful, so I thought I’d try a F1 variety this year, rather than always going for the cheaper options.
• Radish – Mixture (Dobies). …having said that, I couldn’t resist a pick and mix style selection of radish, as that’s going to be interesting to see all the different varieties and colours which (hopefully) grow!
• Celery – Golden Spartan (Dobies). We’ve been buying celery plants from Homebase each year, but last year’s ones weren’t overly successful. So this year I’m going to be reckless (or just plain crazy) and try growing my own from seed.

Moving on to the middle line…

• Cucumber – Hopeline (Mr Fothergill’s). I actually won this seed packet in a competition last year, but never got as far as sowing them. Seeing as the Cucamelons were so successful last year, this year I’m determined to try growing these miniature Cucumbers.
• Potatoes. No link for these, as they’re going to come from a local garden centre. I just need to figure out which varieties to grow this year, and get a lot of manure to prepare the ground!
• Florence Fennel – Victorio F1 (Thompson & Morgan). Last year’s Florence Fennel wasn’t overly successful either – only two plants grew. However, I’m hopeful that it was just down to the extreme weather during the summer, and that this year things will grow much better.

And last but not least, the bottom line…

• Leek – Musselburgh (Thompson & Morgan). This year we’re not growing Broad Beans, so I needed an alternative. These will (hopefully) be sown in March or Aprilm but like the cucumber, I’ve never grown these before, so it’s going to be interesting to see what happens!
• Carrots – Paris Market – Atlas (Thompson & Morgan). Carrots are supposed to be easy to grow, but I’ve never had any real success. A previous year all I had was leaf growth, and last year the leaves were lying flat on the ground as I’m assuming “something” had eaten them away from the growth at the base. This year will be different, as I’m planning on sowing these in a pot in the garden, as well as on the allotment. I wonder which will be most successful…
• Cucamelon. No link for this one, as I’m hoping that my plants from last year have produced viable tubers which will regrow this year. The plant which was in the pot in the garden hasn’t been touched other than cutting it down, and I still haven’t got back to the allotment (yet) to dig up the cucamelon there. Maybe next week…

So there’s my Grow Nine for 2019 – what are you planning on growing this year?

Don’t forget to check out the Propagator’s Six on Saturday  and read through the comments section for more blogs to check out!

1. …. “I won’t bother taking the ball of twine to the allotment, there’s nothing to tie back”…

…next time, I’m going to take the twine with me to tie up that blackberry before I trip over it!

2. The strawberries are approving of the more seasonal weather – even “disaster land” has revived in places! I need to untangle a lot of the runners for Just add Cream and Snow White, and sort out the escapee that seems to have sneaked out through the net…

3. We’ve finally had some success with the radishes – admittedly not as many as we should have, given how they’re meant to be “easy to grow”. If only the Florence Fennel would show signs of growth now (that’s meant to be a line next to the radishes)…

4. I will admit I’ve been neglecting my flower patch – I sprinkled a few nasturtium seeds earlier in the year and it was watered in the hot weather, but other than that it’s been left to fend for itself. It seems to be doing well though, and the penstemon survived my brutal ‘pruning’ after the snow we had in March!

5. We know there have been badgers spotted in the allotment site for a while, but I’ve always been confused why the badgers didn’t seem interested in the ants (apparently ants are a badger’s favourite food…)…
Well wonder no more, they’ve dug into the ant hills on the allotment path, and stripped it of ants completely!

I’ll be digging some of that soil off and using it elsewhere on the plot – that’s nice and fine, instead of my clay-like soil in other parts of the plot!

6. In my hope to make the raspberries easier to pick, I started thinning some of the plants – they grow semi-wild, so I’ve been letting them grow as they want… only trouble is that doesn’t leave me a path through the middle to pick any!

I’ve got bare soil in places (yay!), but that’s given me an idea for next time I work on the allotment – I’m going to try hoeing the ground under the raspberries to see if I can clear the dead leaves and also loosen the soil that the grubs are in. If the badgers are hungry for ants, they might take a liking to those pesky grubs too!

Don’t forget to check out the Propagator’s Six on Saturday  and read through the comments section for more blogs to check out!