Weekend 6 January
On the plot,
Still managing to harvest a few vegetables. This week it was broccoli, leeks, carrots and sprouts although there are still one or two cabbages.
Mainly did a bit of clearing up and digging although the soil is still really wet and soggy. Ours is a clay soil and often at this time of year more harm than good is done by standing on it.
As it was a still day, the fruit trees were given their winter wash which seems to keep the plum aphids at bay. We used to have quite a problem with this before we starting using the winter wash. Click here to read more
I have kept a few seeds from the sunflowers to plant later in the year.
One of the shrub roses was rocking a bit so this was firmed in.
For some reason I found a few strawberry plants which had been uprooted on the paths, the strange thing was that I couldn't find a gap in the strawberry bed to show where they have come from so I am not sure which variety they are - anyway I pushed them back into the ground so time will tell whether they survive and if so which variety they are. Not sure if they were blown out by the wind, uprooted by an animal or even worse someone up to no good!!
Spending a good deal of time trying not to buy too many seeds for next year. This means going through the catalogue time and time again and asking myself - "Have I really got enough room in the greenhouse for all of this - or even the time to sow all the seeds and look after then?"
In the garden,
The mahonia bush is now flowering - when you are close to it, it has a lovely delicate perfume. The birds have been kind to us and so far left the buds alone this year
Many bulbs are pushing their way through the ground. Snowdrops, hyacinths and miniature daffodils. I prefer the smaller daffodils in the garden and confine the larger varieties to the allotment plot where they provide cut flowers.
The hellebores are also in bud. It's always a welcome sight to see things starting to grow again!
The phormium is looking good too. The colours really show up at this time of year. A couple of years ago we moved it as it wasn't happy in its former position. It hardly had any root and we didn't hold out much hope but now it is thriving!
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Click here
for January 2007 diary entry
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Archive for previous years' diaries dating from 2007 can be accessed by clicking here
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In the greenhouse,
One of the garlic bulbs, planted in pots earlier, is now sprouting.
All the dead leaves have been tidied from the strawberry plants which seem to be surviving well.
Other plants are just sitting out the winter and hoping as we do that they come out of it at the other end
Out and About
It seems that the weather can't make up its mind this week. We had our first snow of the year. Fortunately it turned out to be more of a dusting than anything serious. We have had rain, strong winds and today although it was cold we have had lovely sunshine.
Today's clear skies make you appreciate the shapes of the bare trees. I especially noticed the nests lodged in the branches. It's a pity though that the lack of leaves also means that all the litter and debris caught up among the shrubs growing along the roadsides and the plastic bags waving like flags caught up in the tree branches are also more prominent.
Weekend 13 January
On the plot
All the farmyard manure has now been spread around the plot. Much has been spread on top of the ground to allow the worms to do some of the work for us.
This week was also the time when I had to don ‘full body armour’ in order to prune the blackberry canes . Prune is probably a much too gentle word – maybe I should really call it “The Battle of the Secateurs”.
We continue to harvest some vegetables – parsnips, carrots and sprouts.
A few rotten cabbages and lettuces needed uprooting and placing on the compost heap.
In the garden
Bulbs are continuing to push up through the sodden soil.
The birds are continuing to visit us in large numbers but no doubt during the week they will go into hiding as usual. This is on 26 and 27 January.
RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch
In the greenhouse
Potted up a Boston fern and camellia both bought in December. They were bought is quite small pots. Ericaceous compost was used for the camellia as it will not tolerate lime.
Our grapevine tends to take over the greenhouse during the summer months and so it was given a very severe pruning in an attempt to restrict it. Next year we would like it to leave some portion of the greenhouse unoccupied where we can grow other things.
Out and About
Lots of rain again this week leading to very soggy ground conditions. We have also experienced strong winds and frosty mornings.
Weekend 20 January
On the plot,
Haven’t visited the plot this weekend but we don’t need to in order to know that it will be very wet and soggy
In the garden,
Also very wet and soggy. The garrya catkins are now much longer and the bulbs are continuing to grow. There are signs of the new growing season kicking in but only very steadily.
In the greenhouse
Our potatoes arrived from Dobies this week and so have been popped up in the greenhouse to chit. There is no real decision to be made over whether to chit or not when potatoes arrive in January. We grow salad varieties as we find that we get less slug damage and we don’t really need huge potatoes. The varieties are Nicola, Charlotte and Juliette, which have served us well in the past, and Pixie is a new variety. The catalogue claims a good resistance to blight. Having a mix of varieties has served us well in the past as it seems whatever the conditions some varieties do better than others.
Out and About
Very, very wet and windy!
Weekend 27 January
On the plot
Paid a brief visit to the plot to gather vegetables for the week. Harvested leeks, cabbage, carrots and parsnips.
One of our rhubarb plants – Timperly Early - is beginning to sprout
A couple of strawberry plants appeared to have been dug up - (they hadn’t been blown out of the soil as they had large clumps of soil attached) – these were popped back in the strawberry patch. This has happened before so I am not sure who or what seems to enjoy removing them.
In the garden
As it was the RSPB Big Garden Bird Count weekend the birds in our garden went into hiding as usual – they do it every year. They suddenly lose interest in the food that we put out, seemingly just for this weekend. There again they probably had great difficulty flying in the strong winds that have prevailed for days now.
The wind also wrought devastation on our fencing and one of the panes in the greenhouse.
The bulbs continue to grow on strongly with one daffodil in bud.
The hellebore flowers have now opened.
In the greenhouse
The garlic is beginning to sprout and the strawberry plants are doing well.
Our new Fulton’s Strawberry Surprise rhubarb is beginning to grow.
Out and About
The nights have been very noisy due to the roaring of the gales around the rooftops.
The wind also means that bits of paper and plastic bags are trapped and accumulate in still corners as well as decorating the bare branches of shrubs and trees.
The heavy rain has also caused repeats of the flooding experienced last year.
The weather forecast has just been on and the forecaster stated that we have had a quiet weekend - where has she been all weekend? Not round here!!
