David's Blog

Return to the Yellow Brick Road - Part Two

The Search for “Oz” Plants (2).

With the Snowdrop Festival and the school Spring Fayre over, it’s time to knuckle down and get our Wizard of Oz garden in order again. Not that we’ve been completely idle, though! The tomato, chilli, bell pepper and aubergine seeds have all germinated, and the greenhouse is in full swing! We are growing 2 tomato varieties this year; “Tornado”, which is an outdoor bush variety, and “White Queen” (for Glinda, the good witch of the north). This is a greenhouse heirloom variety, with white skin but the usual red flesh – which sounds “interesting”. Our chillis are “Prairie Fire”, a dwarf variety which grows to only c.6” high, but with quite a spread. Obviously, we chose this for the “Prairie” part of the name, but the “Fire” seems to promise some extra-good chilli con carne and salsa dip this summer! We look forward to trying to grow some in hanging baskets, as suggested by GOY member Michelle – over there in the real land of Oz (well, Australia, actually).As for the bell/sweet peppers, we could have gone for “Colour Spectrum”, which produces peppers in a wide variety of colours, but opted for “Rainbow Mixed”, which does the same. Our aubergines are a variety called “Fairy Tale”, with purple and white dappled skins. “The Wizard of Oz” has often been described as America’s first real fairy tale story, hence our choice. We’ve also made some early sowings of radish “Rainbow Mix”, which should produce radishes in a variety of colours such as white, yellow, orange, pink and red !.



Right now, I’m taking inspiration from our daughter, and am off down the Yellow Brick Road with the mop and bucket, to see if any “roadworks” are required, and to get ready for the kids’ egghunt on Sunday.

HAPPY EASTER, everyone !

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