This weekend, I rifled through my seed packets and found some “Diggers Club” seeds to plant in the winter garden. Some of them are winter recommendations and others, well, they were just what I had in store. We will be going overseas next week so I had to get these babies planted!

The first seeds I sowed were Spinach “Perpetual” Beta vulgaris. The label reads that it is a cross between spinach and silver beet. It can be planted in any season – tick! Harvest in 10 weeks. So, I should be able to harvest it around 20^th August. Looking forward to that!

Near these seeds I planted a few leeks “Jaune du Poitou” allium empeloprasurn– a French heirloom variety. The packet read that I should plant them in punnets – it pays to read the label carefully. Also, the seeds are a bit old, so fingers crossed. Harvest in 20 weeks – that’s a long way off, around the very end of October.

Behind this group of seeds and below a short trellis, I wanted to use up some flower seeds. I chose Sweet Pea “Lord Nelson” lathyrus oderatus, a fragrant heirloom variety from around 1890’s. Can you believe, the label describes these as having “dark and stormy navy blue flowers”. Oh well – we shall wait and see until the end of October as well! Hopefully it will be worth the wait.

In another raised bed, I popped in some peas, “Greenfeast” pisum sativum. Harvest in 15 weeks the packet read – so that will be around the end of September. The label reads “easy and rewarding crop for new and experienced gardeners”.  These are dwarf bushes, so it will be interesting. Let’s wait and see.

In the foreground of peas, in went some calendula flowers “Green Heart Orange – calendula officinalis”. The edible petals are much sought after as a gourmet treat. If they germinate and grow here in our cold area, they should put on a bright display at the end of August.

There’s only one catch living here in the mountain zone micro-climate and that is we are usually three to four weeks behind the city with respect to germination, flowering, and harvesting. There go all my calculations. Add to this dilemma, the packet information reveals an 85% germination rate, so stay tuned and happy gardening. Hope these seeds are as successful as the parsley! Happy gardening!