This Solanum (Winter Cherry) certainly cheers up my window box on these cold and frosty mornings. Although it's not fully hardy it is fine in this sheltered spot. The ground is frozen here so not much I can do in the garden at the moment.
There is good news and bad news. Thankfully the bell cloche over the water feature has stopped the water freezing so hopefully if (and it's a big if) the tadpoles are hibernating, then they should be okay. On the other hand the frost has killed off the three Pineapple Sage plants although with a bit of luck they should shoot again in the spring. The Tagetes experiment was a wash out. Seven of the eight plants have been eaten by slugs and the one remaining plant looks pretty pathetic.
Indoors I am amazed at how quickly the Narcissus Paperwhites have grown. Planted on 26 December, they are about 12" tall with nine buds so far, the first just beginning to open. Is this a record? Chilli Thai Hot and the unknown yellow Chilli are still flowering and fruiting too so the kitchen windowsill is looking very jolly.
I have taken advantage of a couple of seed offers from Thompson and Morgan to complete my seed order for the year. The first gave me two free packets of seeds of my choice and £5 off the order so for £2.04 (£1.99 of which was P&P) I got Geranium, Snow Banana, Centratherum, Scabiosa and Poppy. Then via an offer in Gardeners' World magazine I've ordered 10 packets of seeds - five veg and five flowers for wildlife - for £1.99. So that's me more than made up for the year and with plenty to swap.
Georgie
1 comment:
Thanks for a nice warming post and photo on what has been another bleak day!
The Paperwhites will look a treat when they flower.
I've de-iced and refilled my pond every day for over a week now!
I've also taken up the Gardener's World offer. xx
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