8th May

8^th May

I had a good couple of hours in the garden with my 2 year old. He ‘helped’ me make a miniature raised bed for the new rosemary plant to live it. Being a Mediterranean herb, rosemary likes a well drained soil that is not that rich. I have wondered if the reason my 2 or 3 year old rosemary is just 3 twigs with some leaves attached is due to the fact it sits on a water retaining level in decent soil. It is now about 4 inches off normal ground level in mainly recycled garden soil with a little topsoil to improve the appearance. There is a good handful of gravel under its roots as well so it is not sitting in a wet patch.

My timing is impeccable sometimes! I bought a pot of French tarragon because I was convinced, after much searching and waiting, that last year’s tarragon had not survived the frost. When I went to plant it out into the sunken bucket, before my eyes was a little sprig. I dug up the old roots and separated them – this is the only way to propagate the French variety – and potted it up, and replaced the root part with the sprig back in the bucket just in front of the new plant.

With both boys I got some sawn-up sections of drainpipe and buried their bases in the ground, the names of all four of us written in gold marker pen at the top, then proceeded to fill with soil and compost, and watered them down. When the soil is not quite so waterlogged (thank you boys!) we will each plant 3 carrot seeds, thin down to 1 carrot plant and see who can grow the largest carrot. The idea is that each carrot will grow long in the pipe. I have heard that competition growers do this with pipes tall enough to reach an upstairs window.

Later on I got out the 5 hanging baskets from the shed and hung them up and then worked my way along filling them and potting them up. I managed to get the first 3 done before it was time to call it a day (the day is called either by the severe lack of daylight or by my wife calling me for a meal – otherwise I would be out there all hours!). The 3 fuchsias from last year are now in their summer homes joined by the various trailing plants I bought some time ago and have been growing on in the greenhouse just itching to get out. It is quite a balancing act in the greenhouse and the shelves in the conservatory with potting-on plants and sowing more seed. I seem to be getting it just about right in managing the space. Some go out as others are sown. There will be over half a shelf free once I get the remaining sweet peas out but I really want to wait until the spring bulbs have fully died down so I can give the borders a good clear out of dead leaves and weeds before I plant out the sweet peas. I need to get the fillbasket sprouts, the cauliflowers and the calabrese out into the ground and sow the purple sprouting broccoli soon, but the allotment is not ready yet. I fear a repeat of last years’ butterfly and caterpillar attack if they go out before protection is up. Well, I don’t just fear it, I can guarantee it.