4th April

A glorious spring day. At lunch time I got out into the garden and weeded the border and pulled up a few more sycamore seedlings, the running total now being 2100. I put my tray of sweet peas out to get some fresh air and sunshine. The ones that I pinched out the tips of seem to be doing well, and yet still I am cautious of pinching out any more just yet. The daffodils are beginning to wane now, a few have really had it so I deadheaded them so that the plant does not put energy into setting seed but can begin to withdraw its nutrients back into the bulb so it will flower next year. Maybe the lack of this care in the past has caused the lack of good flowering. This year with my new bulbs, I am beginning afresh and will religiously deadhead the lot. Quite a few of the daffodils are still going strong, but are being joined in colourful display by some rather tall and splendid red tulips. They are tall, proud, large goblet flowered plants that look magnificent especially mixed in with the yellow daffodils. Last autumn when I planted out the new bulbs, starting near the house and working away from it, I replanted some older ones after the new ones had run out. These, so far at least, are not coming up as well. If this really is the case, I will have to mark out where they are to replace them this autumn with further new ones, and look after them properly now that I have more know-how, as this spring has been great for the new bulbs.

 

 

The last week to 10 days have seen me becoming a little concerned about my vegetable seed sowing. Back in the winter I was full of excitement and ideas, drawing up plans, and having a huge hand-made chart to set out what must be done on the vegetable plot each month. Seeds were bought nice and early and I was just itching to go. As it got to the time to start sowing, I was beset with a fear of potential waste considering I could plant lots of seeds and have all the seedlings killed of by frost or cold wind or heavy rain because I might plant them out or sow them too early. Then there is the case of my sprouts and cauliflowers that have gone too tall and leggy because I kept them in the loft too long after propagation. I read an online article from a newspaper today by a gardening expert who said that we must wait until the soil warms up to so many degrees for so many days, and yet the weekly newsletter I receive from Gardener’s World says I should be continuing to plant out my
onions (which I delayed due to reports of bad weather this weekend) and sowing carrots, not to mention quite a few other vegetables. It may be that it is alright to sow outside so long as the ground is protected by fleece or cloches. What I might then do is to warm the soil with my milk bottle cloches then sow cauliflower seed straight into the ground. The thought of it going wrong after all this intrepid waiting and expectation is a fate that would dent me somewhat.

Next post: 9th April