All change on plot #92. My disappointing Charlottes are out – just under 8kg from 18 seed spuds, where normally I would expect at least double that weight – which meant that I could get on with reconfiguring that side of the plot for the new saffron bed.

I now have 2 beds, plumped up with barrows of manure and bags of hops. Both beds are clay-ey and a little sticky so this should help on the drainage front. They do look a bit too invitingly like giant litter trays, but so far the foxes have left them alone. My plan is to top up with lots of hops now I have a plentiful supply and to barricade it slightly with trimmings from the blackthorn hedge. If I have to I’ll even sling a net over the top.

I left the beds to settle for a bit, and picked the blisteringly hot yesterday as the day for putting in corms. (My back’s a bit glowy this morning!) I had forgotten quite how many I have…or quite how long this takes! There are now 243 tucked into the 2 beds, plus another 20 or so smaller corms in nursery pots as insurance against squirrels and voles, not that they’ve gone for them so far. Here’s hoping that the first flowers will come out in a month or so – last year the first flower was on 26 Sept.

There is a small heap of corms over and I thought I’d offer them out rather than composting them straightaway. They’re divided into packs of about 20 corms each.

The caveat is that these are smaller corms, as per the picture on the right. They most likely won’t flower this year, but if you put them in a nice well-fed bed/large pot that gets winter sun they will bulk up and you will have corms big enough to flower next year. They need to go in the ground asap, and I don’t have room for more than one nursery pot on my plot.

I would like the costs of p&p reimbursed via paypal. This is £4.50 including the rate for a signed for 2nd class small parcel. Or if you’re in/near Kingston you could pop over to the site to collect them. I’m at the plot most days after all.

Please do get in touch via the form below if you would like some, I’ll be (regretfully) composting whatever is left on 4th September.

30th August edit: All the corms are now spoken for so I’ve removed the form. Thank you for a pretty amazing and speedy response. Approx 450 corms are making their way to new homes. I really hope they grow well for you – please do get in touch if I can help at all, or to let me know how they are doing. And if you wanted some but were too late, I will probably be doing the same next year, they are worse than rabbits for slyly multiplying.