List of Seeds and Plants available & wanted

I've the following available, in various quantities. Lots of unfamiliar species - so see further down the page for information. Seeds unless otherwise specified.
Achoccha (Cyclanthera pedata) (No fresh seeds) 
Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum)
Apples (I grow Annie Elizabeth, Kidd's Orange Pippin and Ingrid Marie. Let me know which you want me to keep seeds of - although I've no control over the pollen parent. There are other apple trees in nearby gardens, including, unfortunately, a crab. I believe, having come across many tasty feral apple trees, that good apples are not so dependent on intensive breeding as breeders may like you to believe - you just have to ensure there's no crab apple pollen involved.) This year I've been collecting seeds from local Northwich varieties - found by the wayside, also of what I suspect to be Wisley Crab, which is more of an apple than crab, with red flesh.)
Babington Leek (bulbils) new crop September. (details here) 
Balm of Gilead (Cedronella canariensis, sometimes C. triphylla) (amazing scent, but not many seeds)
Bistort (small quantity of seeds, none this year) 
Burdock (Arctium minus)
Chaenomeles speciosa and japonica (no japonica this year)
Corn Salad AKA Lambs' Lettuce (small quantity, fiddly to collect)
Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis)
Garlic Chives (run out, may have some coming on)
Land Cress (American, I think) 
Medlar
New Zealand Spinach
Perpetual Spinach
Potato (from Sarpo Mira berries: Sarpo Mira is blight resistant. It seems seeds these are crossed with all the other varieties on the allotments, so very variable, many inheriting blight resistance.)
Runner Bean (mixed varieties)
Sweet Cicely

Tomato Salt Spring Sunrise
Winter Radish (white root, more than a hint of horseradish pungency! Probably Munchen Bier) 
Also Red Kabocha Winter Squash, courtesy of a bought fruit. No guarantees it will breed true; there may be some Green Kabocha pollen involved, or others.

Bistort roots
Oca tubers
Potato Bean tubers
Ramsons bulbs/plants, depending on season
Vietnamese Coriander cuttings
I've posted details of some of these below

Please email me, antthehat, on my hotmail.com address for postage rates: for seeds (other than big seeds, including perpetual spinach) only, this will usually amount to normal posting rates. Otherwise, large letter postage is required for Babington Leek bulbils, legumes and most roots. Some extra consideration would be great, but not essential.

                                         

If you've anything interesting to offer, please say

Found a Slime Mould - Fuligo septica?

This was growing on a long-dead conifer log in our Cheshire garden, appearing a couple of days into a hot spell following a damp and cool English July.

Thursday it was yellow and granular in appearance, but evidently very moist.

Friday it had turned black, with evidence of slugs/snails having foraged overnight.

Housing Crisis? What Housing Crisis?

From the quosac2 blog Why do we need more houses in the UK? Why are house prices sky-high, and unaffordable by essential workers? Why do kids, old enough to move out, stay at home and spend their quite reasonable earnings on booze and cars? Why are more elderly people living on their own, necessitating carers to drive round in cars? Why are cars so necessary?
I'm sure if you add up all the bedrooms in the country, you'd find a surplus.
Surely, if people opted for sharing their homes, or move into shared homes, we could instantly get more accommodation. Young people can share, old people can share, mixed ages can share. Single households generate more waste per head. Single households need more heating energy per head. It's hard work maintaining a house on your own, especially if you need to work, or if you're elderly.
Government specs for new developments aim to cram them in - great for squeezing them onto brownfield sites, but pathetic for gardens, which are breathing spaces, places for drying clothes, composting waste, growing food, appreciating nature.
Shared housing shares burdens and costs, provides company, provides security, provides care when you're down. People in shared housing find they can afford to work part-time; they can downsize on their personal material comforts, upsize on their social and shared comforts.
Divorce is another issue - I blame lack of conversation in this busy-busy-busy lifestyle. The more you have, the more you have to look after - so cut it out. Axe telly-time, talk. And don't dream of winning the lottery - it won't happen, and any charity will benefit more by direct donation. If you've got a dream, work towards it - dreaming won't help!
In a large group, you can have babysitters, granny-sitters, dog-minders, specialists, and hearty entertainment - jam-sessions if you're musically minded! And how many cars do you need? Not many.

Freestyle Foods

On land where your tenure is unsecure, you want food that requires a minimum of money/effort. So:
scatter a manky pot of raspberries or strawberries (you can make a herbal tea from the leaves of the former)
toss your applecores (some of the best apples I've tasted have been from such seeds, chucked by the wayside)
...and some hazelnuts
planted ornamental almonds can offer tasty nuts (if too almondy, then too much hydrocyanic acid) - but you may need adjustable spanners to crack them
learn to recognise Ground Elder and know it from poisonous relatives - it's great cooked as spinach, or young leaves in salad. Don't introduce it to your allotment though!
plant roots like carrot and parsnip from the grocer - they'll give cheap seed
plant Jerusalem Artichokes for an excellent crop of tubers, that are wonderfully crunchy scrubbed for salad - but only harvest them when you're ready for them, as they don't store well.
other tasty wild plants: ramsons (wild garlic), common sowthistle (lettuce-like)

Babington Leeks

Babington Leeks (Allium ampeloprasum var babingtonii)
Babington Leeks are a perennial, rare UK native, found on south-western coasts, with the following life-cycle:
Ripe bulbils fall from September on, to root and develop on the moist winter soil. They are unlikely to reach full size in their first season, especially if you mistake them for grass. Planting in September gives them the longest growing season. I’ve not done experiments, but suggest planting 6-8” (15-20cm) apart, and ½”(2cm) deep.
Around June, the foliage dies back to the underground bulb. (You may like to mark the position to avoid damaging them/overplanting.)

In September, growth resumes. If big enough, they’ll produce a flowering stalk in the summer. The flowers are sterile, but the ball of bulbils at their base can be used for propagation.
In June, the foliage dies back, but the stalk remains and releases the bulbils by breaking up in autumn.
Uses:
The leaves can be used like leeks, or to add a garlic flavour to meats, stews, whatever.
The bulbils can be distributed on pizzas (remove husks).
The bulbs can be used as giant garlic – you’ll find them in ones and twos, not clusters as traditional garlic. I’ve just pickled some for the first time – yet to open. To get bulbs, not bulbils, break off the young flower heads (use them in cooking), so that the stalk dies back early. Lift in July/August - if your ground is solid, baked in the summer sun, try watering it to minimise bulb damage when digging them out.
You may try bunching the stalks to make insect homes.

Our mediaeval ancestors, and their predecessors, probably found these leeks and used them in their pots, part of the essential spring greens. As the plant’s only means of reproduction is by bulbils and division, this is the very same variety. It can’t be improved upon – for the same reason; and cannot breed itself out of disease susceptibility, so should not be grown in bulk, just isolated gardens.
If you fancy growing them, I can send some bulbils to UK addresses on receipt of a suitably stamped, addressed envelope: email me, antthehat at my hotmail.com address for information. Fresh stock is available in September, also the best planting time. If you've got any interesting edibles to offer in exchange, that would be great, but not essential.

The Chayote

Chayote - Sechium edule.
I got a job lot of these fruits for a song, so I thought I'd try growing them. A search on the internet suggested that the single seed inside this cucurbit's fruit might sprout if carefully cut out: I had no joy. They tried in their pots, but whether they didn't like the north facing windowsill in winter (the best place for me to keep my eye on them), or just didn't like being removed from the fruit, I don't know. But one fruit remained in its little plastic bag for some time, and started rooting and shooting. So I put it in a plantpot. As I write in mid April, it still looks reluctant. See the picture with the rotten fruit - taken before I removed the fruit and planted it up without - it had some roots trying to grow into the fruit, but rotting; there were still some healthy root starts waiting though. For some good pics of young chayotes, see http://www.greenculturesg.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=9734 Ultimately, I hope it will go romping up a bean frame, and if not produce fruits, then we'll gorge on shoots. I've none to offer, of course - just thought you may be interested.

PS - It died. It wasn't healthy when I removed the fruit, and just went downhill...