Signs of Spring

After a beautiful sunny day yesterday, today was overcast and windy so I abandoned my plans to visit Myddleton House and spent a few hours in the garden instead. (Hopefully the display of Snowdrops will still be there next week.)

The first task was to water all the plants in the two greenhouses where I was pleased to note lots of new buds on the half-hardy Fuchsias. The Pelargonium cuttings are going great guns and some even have buds on them. Most other things look fine too although I fear I may have lost some of the Aquilegia seedlings.

The next job was to reorganise some of the pots to bring things coming into bloom to the fore such as this pot of Narcissus Tete a Tete which is underplanted with Tulips. As I was moving things around it was good to see that Allium Neopolitan and Allium Schubertii have broken through the soil, flower buds coming through on the Hellebores and new leaves just beginning to open on Dicentra, Aquilegia, Tradescantia, Aconite and Soapwort. I then cut back the hardy Fuchsias to a couple of inches above ground and cut out the dead wood on the deciduous shrubs.

Moving on the border I did a double-take on the Honesty but it was true. There are indeed flower buds on the plants which is quite surprising as they flowered in April last year and it's been a much colder winter this year. Cutting back the Verbena Bonariensis to a few inches above the ground I noticed that I've still got a few Tulips there and the Iris leaves are well up. Underneath the Buddleia the Crocus Ruby Giant all appear to be up with plenty of leaves. I've never grown Crocuses before so I'm pleased with their progress so far.

Onto the vegetable pots and disaster has struck. All of the Peas which I planted last November have been eaten! They were covered with a bell cloche and had reached about 10 cm high so it has to be slugs I think. Such a pity. Never mind, I still have some seeds left so I'll sow them next week. On the other hand the Chives, Garlic Chives, Fennel, Strawberries and Raspberries are all showing signs of growth so it's not all bad news.

Finally I was relieved to see that my Acer and Elder plants which I got last year both have new fat buds on them and the Forsythia is set to flower very soon. Spring is surely on its way.

Georgie

Seed sowing starts

The snow has gone now but I rather like this detail of my Buddleia (and I haven't taken any new photos this week).

First of all an update on my new little pond. I have researched suitable native plants and have come up with a short list of four. But I obviously cannot have four plants in such a small space so I think I'll have Marsh Marigolds (Caltha palustris) next to the pond with Bulrush (Typha minima) and Water Soldier (stratiotes aloides) in it. I've discovered that these plants won't be available for a month or two but in the meantime the pond weed should keep the water sweet.

A week on the seed potatoes (Swift) have already starting chitting with tiny green shoots. They are in an egg box in the light, but away from direct sunlight. I'm going to grow them in an old compost sack and I've been researching how best to go about it. I'll say more about the method I adopt when it comes to planting out time.

Today I sowed my first lot of seeds and it felt good. On the edible side I sowed Chilli 'Trifetti', Chilli 'Pretty in Purple' and Alpine Strawberry 'Mignonette'. And on the ornamental front I sowed Asclepias incarnata 'Swamp Milkweed', Ensete Glaucum 'Snow Banana' and Sweet Pea 'Cupid Mixed'. With the exception of the Sweet Peas - which went into the greenhouse - the rest are in 9cm pots on the kitchen windowsill covered with a small plastic bag secured with an elastic band.

Georgie

Snow!

This was my garden on Monday morning, about 20cm of snow, more than I can ever remember here in Enfield. And it's remained cold all week, so gardening has been out of the question.

So what else was there to do on a cold February weekend apart from pour over my seeds and plan for warmer days. So out came my seed boxes - I sort them by 'fruit and veg', 'herbs', 'flowering annuals/biennials' and 'perennials' - and I thought I'd see just how many I have got. Big mistake! To my horror - I thought I'd been really good this year - I found I had: 32 x fruit and veg, 15 x herbs, 20 x annuals and 17 x perennials, not to mention the four seed potatoes 'Swift' kindly supplied by Flighty. Where on earth am I going to put this lot?

I should be okay with the edibles as I have five small growing areas. Under the kitchen window sill there will be 3 lots of Tomatoes, Sweet Basil, Borage, Chives, Parcel and Watercress. The window box will contain tumbling Toms and Greek Basil. In the greenhouse I shall grow three types of spring Onions, Greek Cress, Chinese Mustard, Radish, mixed salad leaves and Lettuce. The shady border will house Raspberries, Blackberries, Beetroot, Nepeta, Tree Spinach and Parsley. And the main veg plot Potatoes, 3 types of Cucumber, Physallis, 3 types of Chillies, Garlic Chives, Passion Fruit, Mustard, Peas, Beans, Carrots, Courgette and 2 types of Strawberries.

I'll talk about the flowers another time, once I've decided where to put them all.

Georgie.