I wouldn’t say I’ve managed to get round the entire world today but I’ve made a good start.
Hopefully, before too long I will be able to start filling my garden with some of the perennial plants listed in Stephen Barstow’s magnificently informative Around the world in 80 Plants. However, I need to finish the pond off first….
Which seems like a possibility over the next few days, as no rain is predicted. Whether or not the prediction is correct is another matter but if I could finalise the shaping and get the sand followed by liner down, then it can rain as much as it likes.
In the meantime, merry Christmas to all my readers. I hope you’re enjoying your holiday, if there is one where you are.
Sounds all good Helen. Cheers!
Thank you, Agnes 😊.
Looks like a great book; same to you!
Thank you!
Merry Christmas, Helen!
Thank you, Lavinia!
Merry Christmas to you! 🙂🌲
Thank you, Julie 😊.
Merry Christmas to you, Helen!
I absolutely love Stephen’s book. I’m not sure how many packets of seeds I’ve ordered because he showed a fantastic use for it there. Allium wallichii for one. Bath asparagus (Ornithogalum) just won’t sprout for me either. I know the bulbs of this plant are available over in the UK, but no one will ship unfortunately. I won’t keep listing seeds, but if you haven’t come across them yet, Plant World Seeds is my source for most of the seeds in Stephen’s book: https://www.plant-world-seeds.com Best of luck.
Merry Christmas, Luke!
I’ve not come across Bath asparagus but if I do, I could ship some to you unless there is some specific restriction.
Anyway, thanks for to the link for Plant World Seeds. I will have a look at the site 😊
It’s a phytosanitary liscensing issue. Some companies I order from in the UK send me a stack of 10 documents all signed by the residing inspector which costs 70 USD aside from shipping. Then I have Plant World who just ships. I was lately trying to purchase field forget-me-not seed ( Myosotis arvesis ) in large quantities because the company I contract with wanted it. I believe I approached 4 companies, offering handsome shipping, and they all turned me down because the phytosanitary is too much of a headache. Thankfully Plant World has small packets I bought in quantity.
Thank you so much for offering Helen. I’d hate to get you into any trouble though, so will just have to keep trying seeds.
I suspected the phytosanitary licence might be the issue. Oh well, perhaps you will eventually have luck with the seeds.
Hope you had a lovely Christmas too
Yes, thank you, Murtagh. I hope you did, too
🙂
Ooh yes! That’s a nice pressie there! It was nice to get Stephen’s first hand comments on eating the plants, rather than just copied out of other books! I have a few nice books as well to browse through, although some of them I bought myself!.
Which books have you got?
I’ve got Martin Crawford’s ‘How to grow your own nuts’ – we had such a good harvest of hazelnuts this year I’m thinking of getting some cultivars that have been bred for a better harvest. Also Stephanie Hafferty’s ‘the creative kitchen’ and Steph’s and Charles Dowling’s ‘no dig organic home and garden’ books. I had bought these for a vegan friend, but persuaded her that she’d like some of my home-made reusable kitchen towel rolls instead! I also got given Tilly Walnes ‘stretch’ about sewing with knitted fabrics. I want to see if I can refurbish some of my old t-shirts and leggings that have seen better days. It was quite nice to get my sewing machine down to make the kitchen rolls (new backing fabric with flanellette sheet fronts and plastic poppers). I feel that my t-shirt refurbishments may involve lots of bright coloured poppers too now!
Sounds like you’re going to be busy! I could have done with ‘Stretch’ when making crocheted cushion covers as Christmas presents!
Anyway, it would be interesting to know which hazelnut cultivars are the most productive. (I still haven’t bought my hazelnut trees yet.)
I’ve got a fair amount of planning to do on the nut front (where to put them etc.), so it’ll probably be a project for next year.
Yes, trees take a lot of planning! I’m thinking I may need to see how my garden settles down after recent changes before I get the hazels. The Woodland Trust sells them at very reasonable prices but perhaps I need to do more research before I made any purchases.
Yes, although the best time to plant a tree is yesterday, they also don’t appreciate being moved too many times!
Yes, it would be great to get the trees in now but I don’t want to be undoing any work unnecessarily!