Product Description
Easter - a red herring story for gardeners
I had a phone order recently from a lady claiming “I’m late sowing this year, its already Easter’. Its freezing though, and wet, I said. She replied, “yes but its Easter”
I checked and in 2023 Easter was 2 weeks later and in 2022 it was 3 weeks later! Its a moveable feast yet at so many shows we do, I still get the odd person say ‘oh you can’t sow after Easter” (which of course you can, there's not a single month when you can't sow something!).
So my message to you is first of all Happy Easter, followed by just saying that the sowing season is really just kicking off, its cold and wet but I get it, a few days at home where you could have been sowing. So please don’t panic, order your seeds ‘con calma’ as we say in Italy ('no rush'). There’s a good saying in Italy worth mentioning at this point - “before you look down, look up” (or sow according to the seasons weather)!
You have plenty of time for sowing everything from Med Veg like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, aubergines, spinach, onions, radish, lambs lettuce, broad beans and the like and during April pretty much anything as it is the biggest sowing month of the year - courgettes and beans, peas, carrots, beetroot, chickpes, lettuce, chicory, your first herbs, annual flowers etc.
So with this in mind, we have put together a little offer for you, some essentials for sowing now:
Catalogue / sowing guide
TOMATO RED CHERRY - Open pollinated variety producing many small fruits - 'Pomodorini'. Oblong 'plum' style cherry ideal outdoor. Trailing, so ideal for containers and balconies just steak the stalk to give it support. Fruits weight: up to 20-30g. Sow now protected
SPINACH MERLO NERO OF ASTI - Typical of the Piemonte region, use it with ricotta to make ravioli, cannelloni alla Piemontesi, and also torta di spinaci, one of the specialities of Parma, a pie made with spinach, egg, toasted pine nuts and parmesan. Merlo Nero or blackbird has tender leaves and is also delicious eaten raw, making a nice addition to salads. Sow in spring and autumn.
PEA PICCOLO PROVENZALE - Small dwarf, rustic, heirloom 'country' style Petit-pois pea aka 'Petit de Provence'. We recommend this variety for flavour and ease of cultivation, ideal with children. Sow spring and autumn.
TROPEA ONION OF CALABRIA - Featured in Stanley Tucci's excellent series 'Searching for Italy' and by the Hairy Bikers in their 'Mediterranean Adventure' series where they called it the best onion in the world, red onions actually originated in Italy. The Tropea is considered such high quality and so sweet that you can almost eat it like an apple! It caramelises beautifully but is also lovely raw and it is almost impossible to find the fruits in the UK. Sow spring and autumn.
Buy all 4 for just £11 which is a saving of £4 and includes P&P within GB.
Enjoy.
Paolo.
Franchi Seeds of Italy 1783
