Getting excited again!

It's got to that time of year again when the days are getting just a little bit longer, the air is milder and there is a sense of things starting to come back to life. It's time to start thinking about the garden again, making plans for what to grow, ordering seeds and getting out there and tidying up a bit!

I have to admit the garden has been pretty much neglected for the past 3 months - we rarely venture out into it except to empty the bins and feed the birds, so there is a lot of tidying up to do!

I plan on doing this over the next week or two. I also need to clean all the tubs etc, and take stock of how much compost to order (one of the drawbacks of growing most of my crops in pots is having to order compost every year).

I was actually hoping we might have got an allotment this year - we've been on the waiting list for a year now, and I'm bursting with plans of all the things I want to grow this year, but we just don't have the room!

I think I'm going to stick to potatoes, carrots and broad beans, with perhaps some salad items and cherry tomatoes. But, you know, I'll probably get carried away as usual, and start adding things like courgettes, peppers, broccoli and all sorts of herbs! We also have our strawberry plants, plus the rhubarb and raspberry canes on the fruit side of things. I really want to add some blueberry bushes to the mix, but I'm being realistic as we really do not have the room.

I ordered some seed potatoes this week from The Organic Gardening Catalogue (I actually got a bit carried away so think I will have to off-load some of these on to my parents!). I ordered a selection:

Earlies: Orla
2nd earlies: Cosmos
Early main: Robinta (I've had these before - they have a lovely red skin and make great wedges!)
Late main: Golden Wonder (I love these boiled with loads of butter mmm) and I also got some Arran Victory as I am intrigued by their purple/blue skins!

I also ordered some broad bean seeds (super aquadulce) -broad beans are one of my favourite things about summer so I'm planning a few tubs of these this year!

I'm also planning on making a little wigwam out of canes, and growing some climbing beans (barlotta lingua di fuoco) around it, to make a little play tent for my kids. Not sure if that's going to work out a good idea or not (we'll see ;) ) but these beans have pretty purpley mottled pods!

One thing I also need to do is build a little bird feeder I got as a birthday present last year, and order some more bird food for the spring!

So, I'm going to be busy out there over the next few weeks. I'm going to spend the evenings reading some of my favourite gardening books and dreaming of the seasons ahead! I love spring!