Hello October 2022!
How did we get here so soon? The Newsletter has only just been sent out to our Subscribers, better late than never so they say! We are usually much more efficient and timely with our monthly missive but it has been busy and we have been firefighting a bit, trying to flatten the impact of the Royal Mail postal strikes. Sadly, they have been a little disruptive to our supplies to say the least and whilst we give our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience caused there is precious little we can do about it.
Luckily we were able to send out a mid month missive listing all the new products, of which there were many, so have a browse of the collections to discover the new additions.
In other news we are in the process of adding downloadable sowing guides for all of the products. This will be ongoing until they are all done, if you need one which is yet to be completed just shout and we will get it to you. On the back of this our month by month sowing guides will also be updated so that everything is in sync. One of the things that has become very apparent is that these guides are just that, guides. With our crazy weather we have been hearing of all sorts of successes that people have had with either very early or very late sowings. Some are still harvesting beans of all sorts as we type! It just goes to show that you have to remain completely flexible and consider all factors that affect growing conditions.
Now that we have mentioned the dreaded weather, and the prospect of many more hot summers / drought periods, we thought we would touch on the use of 'grey water'. We certainly diverted a good deal through the summer to use in our garden but, like a lot of us I guess, long term storage is an issue and unsightly storage tanks in a domestic garden is not ideal and, more to the point, not happening. It was easy enough to collect the water in big plastic trugs of the sort you can buy from budget stores, for short term use and this did mean that we stopped a lot of it just going down the drain. Some of the bespoke options that are on the market are ridiculously expensive so if you have come up with a great idea then please share it with us so we can all benefit.
The other thing we have been having a little dabble with is Moon Planting, what is your view Lunar or just plain loony!?!
This is a time honoured system where sowing and planting are done in line with the phases of the moon and never when it is on the wane in the last quarter when the water table is diminishing. The general belief is that the gravitational pull of the moon on the earth's water can affect plant growth.
Gardeners and farmers have been using lunar planting systems for years, no outlay on expensive equipment is required, all you need is a Lunar Calendar, in fact many standard diaries note the phases of the moon so that is all you need.
There are four phases of the moon: new moon, first quarter, full moon and last quarter.
Leafy crops should be planted between the new moon and the first quarter.
Fruit crops between the first quarter and the full moon.
Root crops and perennials between the full moon and the last quarter
Nothing is planted between the last quarter and new moon so this is a great time for general chores.
What do you think? Do you, or anyone you know use this system? If you do please email us at sales@seedstosuit.co.uk to let us know how successful you are with it and any tips you may have.
Don't forget to use the DISCOUNT10 code at checkout to receive 10% off your order, this code is useable just once per customer. If you are not yet a Subscriber you have missed out on a subscriber only discount code especially for Halloween. These offers come up quite regularly so subscribe to ensure you don't miss the next one.
Talking of Halloween the lovely Sal, of Sal's Kitchen fame, came up with some wonderful pumpkin recipes for the newsletter too. The Herb Garden content was all about Lovage, which you can currently buy on our site for just 10p whilst stocks last, and lots of new things have been added to THE SALE! so visit and take advantage of the amazing savings.
It will soon be November and time to start thinking about the C word, what about a Gift Voucher for the gardener in your life? Lots of different denominations available so if the kids want to buy Grandpa a £5 voucher they can, and what a lot of seed he will be able to get for it!
For now that's about it. We will see you on further down the garden path!
Seeds To Suit