As You Sow

Now that the new hothouse has had enough time to settle into position in our vegetable garden, we decided to go ahead with some planting.

Last week we bought packets of seeds from The Lost Seed Company, which is not far from us in Sheffield, and which specialises in rare, open-pollinated, heritage and heirloom seed varieties.

We were impressed by what Kerryn Martin, the 'proprietor and grower', says on the website and on the seed packets:

'It is my passion to open up to you the smorgasbord of seed available, to restore what an industrial world has taken away, and to do this in the most natural way possible.'

This afternoon we planted seeds of basil, beetroot, capsicum, two kinds of lettuce, pumpkin and tomatoes in some old ice cream and margarine containers. We'll plant the other seeds we bought directly into the soil in the garden.

It poured all day today so we left the newly planted seeds outside the hothouse for a few hours to get a good drenching, before we moved them indoors where they can develop, undisturbed by frost and birds. I can't wait to see how successful we'll be at growing these vegetables.

Tonight we ate one of Farmdoc's amazing pizzas for dinner. Of the toppings on it we only grew the spinach, garlic and herbs ourselves. It's exciting to think that at this moment those funny looking seeds are settling in, unafraid of the dark, preparing to put down roots and send up shoots that will become our summer harvest.