It seems very early – it’s only the first week in March, after all – but this week we’ve planted the first of this year’s seeds (I’m not counting the garlic as, despite the fact it’s doing rather well, it’s only an experiment).

Our first crop for 2009, then, is tomatoes, of which we use loads, eating them as they come through the summer, and then making the final glut into chutney to take us through the winter.

Today’s planting was a special variety, though, which is why it needs to start to early.

We’ll be growing our usual Money Maker, Golden Sunrise and Gardener’s Delight this time around, and supplementing them with something new: Black Russian. It’s a heritage variety that comes in very small packs of just 30 seeds, so I hope none of them are duds, but when they’re ripe and mature they will have a beautiful deep brown skin like a chestnut. They look fantastic in pictures, and sound delicious in the description that won us over in the seed catalogue:

These medium sized black tomatoes grow on compact plants bearing plenty of dark mahogany-brown fruits, with a delicious blend of sugar and acid, making a distinctive, complex flavor that has to be tasted to be believed.

If they come anywhere close to that they should be great and I’m already itching for them to sprout so I know they’ve started on their 105 day growing cycle, which is going to feel like an eternity.

If was good to be back in the greenhouse making recycled pots from old newspapers using our Paper Potter, and even better to see them sitting on a windowsill to keep warm as I type this.

Winter may still be hanging on, but spring is on the horizon.

Related posts:

1. How soon should you start planting your veg?
2. The tomatoes are ripening
3. The tomatoes are shooting