In the garden the spring bulbs – daffodils, tulips, crocus and snowdrops - have also had a growth spurt no doubt glad to see the light of day after having been hidden under a blanket of snow for days on end.
Buds are also beginning to form on early shrubs such as the daphne that arrived in our garden from nowhere several years ago no doubt a gift from some bird.
As always the pansies are determined to flower whatever the weather.
In the greenhouse the long delayed task of pruning the grapevine has been completed before the sap begins to rise. Left to its own devices th\e vine would happily take over our 20’ by 10’ greenhouse.
17 January
Today was the first visit to the plot for 2011. It was a lovely crisp sunny afternoon on one side of the plot – the side that isn’t in the shade of the huge conifers along one boundary of the site.
Considering what the weather has thrown at us over the past month or so things looked to be is reasonable condition. There were some casualties, noticeably the green cabbages – for some reason the reds seemed to have stood up to the weather far better but as yet we haven’t cut one in half so it could well just be the outside appearance that looks good. The cardoons have also suffered, we will have to wait and see whether their demise is terminal or not.
On the positive side the crops that are sheltered underground seem to have fared far better. We were able to harvest up carrots, parsnips and beetroot all of which had even begun to shoot again. Read more here.
19 January
We thought that we would have braised red cabbage for dinner tonight but this was not to be. The red cabbage that looked perfect when we brought it back from the plot was anything but perfect. When I cut into it it was smelly and mushy. It’s presence was detected in the kitchen for ages after if was thrown out.
On the positive side we have now ordered all our seeds and plants for next year.Well in theory anyway as usually these are added to throughout the season as we see something that we fancy. The seed potatoes arrived today which was really speedy service from Alan Romans. (NB Alan Romans no longer trades). Most of our seeds will come from Kings Seeds as being in the NSALG we get a good discount - many seeds being half the usual price. I’ve selected and ordered the plants that I want to use in the front flower bed. I was about to send off my list when I found Beth Chatto Gardens Nursery where lots of things I wanted were available at half the price that I was going to pay. As the plants were cheaper I ordered a few more to use elsewhere in the garden!
22 January
We had an unwelcome visit from would-be thieves sometime before plotters noticed broken locks on most shed doors on site this morning.
Our sheds don’t provide rich pickings as most of us wouldn’t risk leaving good garden tools or anything of value in plot sheds. The chances of someone coming along to help themselves to items that can quickly be disposed of at car-boot sales is too high. The real problem is the damage cased to the buildings that are broken into. Anyone who cared to look through our shed window would have realised that any effort spent breaking the door lock wasn’t worth it. Most plotters had damage to sheds but nothing stolen. So why bother locking sheds? We have in the past noticed that sheds left unlocked on vacant plots have had night visitors. What these visitors may be doing in the sheds is anyone’s guess but we don’t really want whatever it is happening in ours so we lock the door. Another problem is that if someone went into an unlocked shed and was injured in some way, it is likely that we would be held responsible for not taking enough care to secure things. Can’t win can we?
25 January
I’m afraid today I succumbed to impulse buying. This isn’t really me as usually I agonise over something for ages before buying anything. The subject of my impulse was a hellebore niger sitting looking so tempting on the supermarket shelf. Another unusual action as I don’t buy plants from the supermarket. I just went in to do some shopping and there it was looking so cute. I know it will have been grown on too early just so it’s flowers would draw me to it and I know it will need hardening off before planting outdoors but there is no going back now. I’m not sure yet whether it will be planted in the bed at the front of the house or in the shady area under the crab apple tree – I just hope wherever I choose it will be happy and I don’t regret the impulse.
Due to poor levels of light we have never had much success starting those seeds that need sowing early in the house. It’s too cold to get them going in the greenhouse so this year we have bought an Indoor Grow Light Garden which arrived today. I’ll keep you posted as to how we get on with it.
26 January
It seems that we are having one delivery after another at the moment. Today a large bundle of seeds arrived from Kings Seeds but a more exciting package arrived from Victoriana Nursery Gardens. We watched a gardening programme on TV – can’t remember which it was – where they mentioned Japanese Wineberry and noted that the berries were really delicious. We decided that we would have a go at growing one. We also had a disappointment last year when despite being loaded with flowers our kiwis didn’t manage to produce a single fruit. We have a male and female variety as neither plant will self pollinate. We think only one variety flowered – not sure which one. On the Victoriana website they had a self fertile variety for sale called Issai so we decided to order this too. Then Martyn rather fancied having a go at growing a Cobnut and so this was added to our list. All three plants arrived today and will be potted up and left in our cold greenhouse until the weather and soil is more suitable for planting.
30 January
We had a flying visit to the plot today – just really had a look round and took a few photos.
The over wintering brassicas have taken quite a beating from the weather with the curly kale looking to have stood up to conditions the best. Time will tell whether the plants recover enough to provide us with any sort of harvest.
We haven’t harvested any leeks yet as they are still very small but as there is little chance that they will get any bigger we are probably going to have to try them – maybe they will be tender baby vegetables! The spring onions sown last year and never used have stood up well to the weather and still look useable.
On the positive side there are signs that the growing season is starting, the rhubarb has some healthy looking shoots and the blackberry bushes are in bud. The tulips planted for cut flowers are also just beginning to push through the soil.
I was pleasantly surprised to notice that some of our native primroses have begun to flower. It is unusual that they are producing flowers before the snowdrops and that ones in a more sheltered position in our garden are showing no signs yet. Anyway that’s another winter month behind us and spring is ever nearer.
Maybe spurred on by an improvement is the temperature the garlic that I planted in pots in our cold greenhouse last October is now sprouting and beginning to grow away. At least I can be sure that they have had the cold spell which they need to be exposed to for cloves to form.
14 January
However tempting it may be to get out gardening we have managed to restrain ourselves. The weather and ground conditions just haven’t been right. More harm than good is done by treading on grass and soil or trying to dig when everywhere is a soggy mess.
One task that doesn’t depend on the weather is the annual ritual of browsing the catalogues and deciding just what seeds are needed for this season. At last the orders for most of our seeds and all of our seed potatoes have been sent off. More detail of which seeds we have ordered is available on our blog so far I have covered which varieties of tomatoes, potatoes, beans and peas we will be growing. I’ll let you know when I add more.
