What a busy time of year it is in the garden !
With the slight cooler weather at the moment, I've stalled my onion sets planting, just for the week. They are growing in modules and are about 4-5 inches in height. The bed has been prepared, this time the upper layer of grass was stripped off, and last autumn's leaf and grass compost has been layered over the area for the sets to be planted in to. What is very exciting is that I'm trying onions from seeds this year. Now it's been a couple of years since I've done this, so I did some winter reading, chatted to a few people (including my dad who gave me some advice on how my granddad grew them) and am looking forward to seeing how they grow. All very exciting !
In the shrubs and flower parts of the garden, things are moving at a pace too. The Dahlia tubers have been set and are sprouting nicely (albeit with slugs and snails assaulting them, but that's a story for another day), my Hemerocallis and Hostas are motoring along nicely (I've one or two nice ones selected to give mum as presents for her birthday) and the Fuchsia have been de-soiled, cut back and repotted. A certain amount of Fuchsia didn't make it over winter, which is always expected, and so I'm on the hunt for a couple of new ones ... nothing new there i hear you say ... hahaha. Oh, remember the mixed wall flowers I potted in Autumn with a view to sorting out colours for spring planting, well, that's worked a treat and I'm rewarded with lots of blocks of scented colour ...
As always, the pot display area is removed over winter, with a view to bringing it back in the spring. However, this year I've moved it and amalgamated it with the few shrubs in bigger pots close to the back door. This will give the advantage of the pots (hopefully) not been blown to pieces on windy days, and having almost all the pots in one area which will be a time saver for me when watering during summer. A double win there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbnIaCbDRnM&t=448s
I am on social media in a number of different ways, so if there are any particular aspects of the garden you have questions about, or if you want to share pictures of your garden, let me know.
In the potager we've gone from zero to sixty in the past six weeks and gardeners across the land have dusted off their old seed packets, been ordering and buying new ones, and there is more than a seedling or two sprouting at this point.
We are no different here. The glass house and green house are full of plants, seedlings and seeds. Over the past couple of years I did go at the seed sowing with much enthusiasm and abundance in mind. this year I've slowed a little and am back to growing smaller amounts in stages. The advantages of sowing at intervals is that not everything will crop at once, avoiding the 'all or nothing' trap we sometimes fall in to.
My early salad crops are just about ready to start to pick, and although I have them covered at night from cool wind and potential cold, during the day they are uncovered and receive the full benefits of the spring sunshine.
With the slight cooler weather at the moment, I've stalled my onion sets planting, just for the week. They are growing in modules and are about 4-5 inches in height. The bed has been prepared, this time the upper layer of grass was stripped off, and last autumn's leaf and grass compost has been layered over the area for the sets to be planted in to. What is very exciting is that I'm trying onions from seeds this year. Now it's been a couple of years since I've done this, so I did some winter reading, chatted to a few people (including my dad who gave me some advice on how my granddad grew them) and am looking forward to seeing how they grow. All very exciting !
Since I gave up blogging and tweeting from mid February until Easter, I can't recall where I left off with my last garden blog post. Did I mention the early tomatoes I'm growing? The seed was sown in January and was brought on in a heated propagator, once they were pricked out, I gave them some additional morning and evening light during February and some of March. They are now sitting in the glasshouse, about 18 inches in height and sturdy too, and some flower buds just opening. The challenge was to have some fresh homegrown tomatoes in May. Lets see how we get on ....
In the shrubs and flower parts of the garden, things are moving at a pace too. The Dahlia tubers have been set and are sprouting nicely (albeit with slugs and snails assaulting them, but that's a story for another day), my Hemerocallis and Hostas are motoring along nicely (I've one or two nice ones selected to give mum as presents for her birthday) and the Fuchsia have been de-soiled, cut back and repotted. A certain amount of Fuchsia didn't make it over winter, which is always expected, and so I'm on the hunt for a couple of new ones ... nothing new there i hear you say ... hahaha. Oh, remember the mixed wall flowers I potted in Autumn with a view to sorting out colours for spring planting, well, that's worked a treat and I'm rewarded with lots of blocks of scented colour ...
Finally, I do invite you to drop by my YouTube channel, where I've begun to put up some video clips of the garden, what I'm doing, and sometimes just having a bit of banter and a laugh. I do like doing the video clips, as I can fit in more for you to see, and obviously its far more visual, so you can see the garden warts (or weeds) and all ... Lol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbnIaCbDRnM&t=448s
I am on social media in a number of different ways, so if there are any particular aspects of the garden you have questions about, or if you want to share pictures of your garden, let me know.
Happy gardening,
Hugo
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