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.

Wildlife pond

A cold but bright morning here so it was ideal for starting work on my new wildlife pond. You will recall that last year I had tadpoles in my tiny water feature but they failed to mature into frogs. Some people suggested they they might hibernate and mature this year but I have my doubts. But I moved it to another spot in the border just in case then started digging the hole for the new poly resin container I bought last weekend. It's 44cm in diameter and 10cm deep. Not big, of course, but large enough to support the wildlife I think.

Thankfully the ground wasn't frozen so it didn't take long to make a hole that was big enough. Once I had back-filled the soil I covered the surrounding area with some ornamental stones to the sides and slightly rearranged the log pile behind. Then I added the pebbles you can see at the back pond to make a 'ramp', filled it up with rain water and some of the water from the old water feature and popped in some pond weed.

I'm pleased with the effect so far. The next job is to research some marginal/floating plants. I like the look of Marsh Marigolds and I'd also like something reed-like, perhaps a dwarf Bullrush. There are a couple of specialist water gardening nurseries near me so I'll have to go and have look around. In the meantime I've put a potted fern to the right of the pond to provide some protection and shade.

Georgie

Bulbs and other musings

As you can see at long last some of the Snowdrops are nearly open. And looking around the garden today I spotted that the Hyacinths, Crocus, Alliums and some of the Tulips are beginning to poke up above the soil.

In the greenhouse some of the over-wintering half-hardy Fuchsias have leaf buds on them, some of the cuttings have new leaves and the Pelargonium cuttings are doing well.

I continued the (huge) task of cutting back the Jasmine this morning. One more session and I reckon the job will be complete. But whilst it was a lovely sunny morning it's still quite cold so I didn't get any other jobs done. If it's nice tomorrow I'll be out there again, this time cutting the Verbena Bonariensis down to a few inches above the ground and possibly tackling the Buddleias too.

Georgie

Herbs

I love herbs and I grow many of them as much for their ornamental value as for their culinary use. I always let them flower and they are much loved by the bees and butterflies, particularly the Salvias (Sage), Borage, Chives and Nepeta (Cat Mint) to name just a few. The picture shows the wonderful patterns the frost made recently on the purple Sage.

So as I wandered around the garden in the sunshine this morning (sadly it has clouded over now) I was pleased to see fresh green shoots on the Chives, Fennel, Garlic Chives, Oregano, Pineapple Mint and Orange-scented Thyme.

On the other hand the bulbs are still taking their time to put on any decent growth. I've got buds on about four Snowdrops but they have been like that for weeks and Narcissus Tete-a-Tete and the dwarf Iris are still only just showing whereas this time last year they were in bud. That said, the Dutch Iris are well up as are Narcissus Jet Fire.

I did some tidying up of the perennials, started to cut back the Jasmine and swept up more leaves. I watered the plants in the greenhouse and was pleased to note that all the Parsley seedlings I pricked out last week are looking healthy. I was less happy to see that the few remaining Spring Onions from last year had a number of aphids on them. At this time of year!

Georgie

A bit warmer today

These are my Narcissus Paperwhites. I'm so pleased with them and they smell heavenly. I've moved them into the dining room to take full advantage of the scent.

I pricked out the Parsley seeds I sowed in the greenhouse back in October. I kept just six of the strongest seedlings which I will continue to grow on in the greenhouse. Looking over the rest of the things in the greenhouse I was pleased to see that the Cyclamen seeds I sowed in October are starting to germinate. This is a new venture for me so it'll be interesting to see how well they fair. Most of the cuttings and other seedlings are looking okay but some of the Aquilegia seedlings have a bit of powdery mildew. I've picked off the worst affected leaves and will keep my eye on them.

The other job I tackled today was planting more spring bulbs. This should have been done by December but it was just too cold. So at last the Allium Schubertii, English Bluebells and Hermodactylus Tuberosa are now in!

I checked through all my seed boxes just to assure myself that I haven't forgotten to sow anything. It amazes me how some people sow things like Tomatoes in January. For amateurs like me who only have a large windowsill to propagate seeds I think sowing this early is just asking for trouble as the light levels are too low, even if you can maintain the temperature required, resulting in spindly, pathetic specimens. I will not be sowing anything until February at the earliest and most things will be held back until March/April.

Georgie

Happy New Year

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