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Category: Gardening 2008 | Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 5:35 pm

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It's been a truly beautiful day here today; once the early morning mist and cloud passed over, the sun came out and it was really easy to believe that spring was on it's way although according to the Countryfile forecast, we are in for another cold snap during the next week.


There are signs of life in the garden although they are currently few and far between. The boat we use as a container has got some crocus and miniature iris hawing but the mini daffs are very late in showing themselves this year.




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and some of the containers have got crocus coming up in them too but it's very slow in starting the season

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Even the twisted hazel is only showing very few catkins, not that we're ungrateful for the ones it has produced

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These little signs of life inspired me to start sowing some flower seeds but I was worried that any cold snap would kill them off in the greenhouse, so I had the idea of using a 'portable greenhouse'. You know the type? A set of shelves that has a polythene zip-up cover?

I brought it in and put it into the bedroom, which faces south as I thought we'd have a better chance of maintaining a more regular temperature and although I only started very few, just in case of accident, I've got: Cherry Tomatos,some Confetti Mixed Petunias,some Sweet Peas called Firecrest, which are a really vivid orange and some unusual Dianthus that I saw in a catalogue, which are black and white.

In addition to those, I did some Amaranthus called Autumn Pallet, which have really feathery flowers, a bit like Pampas Grasses and finally, some Carex, with the notoriously convoluted sowing instructions that I mentioned last year. With the exception of thes, everything else has started to show, which we're absolutely thrilled about; just hope that I can maintain there health until it's planting-out time, which lets face it, is ages yet!

Up in the veg plot, 'Himself' was busy establishing some crowns of Rhubarb, which his Mum was kind enough to donate to us; they're on a layered bed of chicken manure; one of the few plants that can apparently tolerate the acidity of this without months of rotting down although the stuff we used is quite old, mixed in with some of 'Marley's' offerings and then built up into a layer of earth on top.

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We really hope that these take as we both love Rhubarb and apart from that, working on the checkout in the supermarket, I've been absolutely stunned to see the prices being charged for it. Honestly, £2.20 for about four thinnish stems...truly shocking!

Next to those, we added some onion sets which again, we were donated by a friend and in an effort to protect them, we placed this old bit of meshed fence over them.

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We really hope this works, as last year, we lost so much stuff from a variety of predators: pigeons, crows, magpies, mice and then rabbits and slugs, it was heartbreaking as well as being costly in both terms of time, effort and of course money.

Speaking of which, I decided to make a sowing of broad beans two days ago and chose two sorts: the Sutton dwarf variety and another called Exhibition Long-Pod.

To give them a good start, I did them in oversized modular trays rather than straight into the ground and left them outside for their watering to drain through.

I realised later that night that we'd forgotten to put them into the potting shed but as it was a mild night, I didn't worry too much about it.

The next morning though, birds, or perhaps mice, had dug up every single seed, more or less...I did uncover a couple where there weren't little holes dug out and I've put the whole lot into the potting shed to see of there are many left to come through but it just went to show us early on, just what we're up against, already!

Last year, the only outdoor crops we had success with were: Sweetcorn, Potatoes and Broad Beans. Successive sowings of Beetroot, Broccoli, Carrots and Peas went missing or never actually appeared and of the 30+ Runner Bean plants we put out, plus a tray of a dozen or so that I was going to pass on to a friend, all got totally nibbled away and as for the brassica seedlings; they lasted less than 24 hours in the ground!

Thankfully, we have the greenhouse and as well as the tomatos and salad that we had success with in there, this year we are hoping to add Sweet Peppers to the list...really, its just a case of knowing our limitations and / or. trying to add more protective features.

Maybe a Scarecrow? And the rubber snake seemed to keep the beans safe last year, so we shall have to buy a few more from the £ shop in an attempt to protect stuff. Floating C.D.'s on strings proved little defence, so it's sticking with what we think will be ok, if this season is similar to the last; the Sweetcorn were gorgeous, so we're happy to give over plenty of space to those and the same with the spuds although we want to go with a heavier-cropping variety this year.

Also, we're thinking of trying carrots and beetroot in containers, which we can wrap chicken-mesh around, to give more protection to and hopefully, the same with some runner beans too.

Whatever we do, we're looking forward to it as following this long winter, a productive spring and summer...maybe even without the months of endless rain that the UK has endured the last two seasons would be truly fantastic![/img]


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glendann wrote on Sun Mar 01, 2009 5:48 pm:

Your crocuses are so pretty and I do hope the birds are what ever doesn't get them all this year.Good luck to you and you DH at getting a bumper crop this year.

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eileen wrote on Sun Mar 01, 2009 6:48 pm:

I hope the rubber snakes do their job for you again this year and that everything you grow remains healthy and pest free.

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Droopy wrote on Sun Mar 01, 2009 8:33 pm:

You've got a lot to struggle with in order to grow! Wishing you the best of luck with everything.

Your crocus are lovely, at least you've got blooms out there.

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Sjoerd wrote on Mon Mar 02, 2009 12:39 am:

I enjoyed reading this piece, Sharon.
It was great seeing those crocus too!
--Bravo.

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sharon mc wrote on Mon Mar 02, 2009 9:22 am:

Hi all, yes it's lovely to see some 'garden action' at last! Let's hope it heralds the start of a good season for all 'Stewers! It's certainly heartwarming to see the new seedlings emerging!

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kats_gardens wrote on Mon Mar 02, 2009 2:45 pm:

You sure have gotten a lot accomplished already! Here in Ohio, my ground is frozen solid. I have many seeds started too. We have to keep our hands dirty don't we?

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