Digging and Planting

April shower with attitude

The bold leap of spring has already hit on a wobble. A few days ago the temperatures were hitting the giddy heights of the high teens, even twenty degrees in some places. Today we are back to just scraping double figures. Frosts at night are not unexpected at this time of year, often followed by glorious sunny days. Today got off to a good start then cloud marched in and turned everything very cold. On Saturday morning we even had a hailstorm.

I have ventured down to the allotment and been busy putting in the early potatoes; this years varieties are Première, International Kidney and Anya. The latter courtesy of a fellow gardener I met at the Master Gardener's induction weekend. I was hoping to get some of the Sarpo varieties but could only find 'taster' packs of five, not

Beds of seeds and mounds of potatoes

enough to feed a family and more expensive. Next to the potatoes I have added two rows of Scorzonera, something which is being grown as an experiment this year as I have not even eaten it let alone grown it before! Carrots have been put in next to the Scorzonera too. I have also uncovered the onions which have been living under the triangle tunnel all winter, they needed a bit of weeding and a lot of water. Next to the onions are two rows of Chard, again a first time for me but I've heard that it is better than spinach, which is a great favourite of mine. Most of the greenhouse grown broad beans have been planted out and are now having their turn under the triangle cloche next to the chard. Next to the broad beans are two double rows of field peas, which I was given, they should grow without needing any supporting pea sticks. I'll just be glad if they grow!

Tomatolings

 

The rotavating which I was waiting for sort of happened. In some areas the soil was too hard and dry for the machine to cut into so It couldn't be turned. There were a couple of places which were easier to work and I have very quickly filled them with plants or seeds. I was left with the quandary of what to do with the other areas which are not only hard to dig but once again choked with weeds, particularly grass. I could just get my spade and fork and dig it over, quickest but also back breaking work. I expect I shall have to do some of it that way because I need room to put in more potatoes and lots more beans. It is in the bean area that most work needs to be done! I have started to try out a different method, the no dig system. It may be a bit late to start because many of the weeds are well established. I have already started covering the ground with cardboard and covering that with soil. It will take a lot of cardboard and it will take some months before I can use it but if it works I shall save myself a lot of back breaking digging. I will cover spare ground with weed suffocating material in future.

Free Butternut Squash

Back in the greenhouse a lot more seeds have been planted, mainly vegetables but some flowers for the home garden. There are signs of life in several trays but the Spinach hasn't come up again, I hope it is just being slow. Using a tip from a fellow Master gardener I am trying to sprout parsnip seeds on a damp paper towel ready for planting out. Parsnip seeds are notorious for not keeping so this is a good way of seeing if you need a fresh pack. So far no life, same for the soya beans.

It could be spring

According to a newspaper today we are going to have a drought in May! Well April was not exactly rain soaked round here. Perhaps I should start growing Cacti instead!

At last we shall have spring flowers.....

Rip Van Winkle

Wow! We have temperatures in double figures AND the sun has been shining. The wind has turned to the south so the general consensus is that, one month late, SPRING IS HERE! It is late but it doesn't have a note from Mother Nature explaining its lateness, or apologising!! Clearly it has gone to my head. In the garden we have Forsythia, daffodils and primroses. Having spent the last few weeks franticly feeding the birds are now nest building like its going out of fashion. The nestbox cam is set up and we have a Bluetit in residence, it has been roosting in there for a couple of weeks at least. I heard a real herald of spring this evening – the Housemartins have started to return -Hooray!- the first one's were chattering in their nest on our neighbour's house. I don't know what will happen when the three who nested near our bedroom window will do when they get back – Wrens have been roosting in their nest over the winter, there could be ugly scenes.

Borad beans

Enough of the birds what about the garden?! I hear you cry. Well........

Ready to burst

   

The greenhouse is full to bursting with seeds in various pots, cells, bottles etc etc. I have risked the weather and moved the frost tender Acers outside along with the two small Christmas trees and two berberis but they are only just outside and can be shoehorned back in if necessary. The broad beans and peas are sprouting, there is even life in the spinach and tomatoes! The assorted fruit bushes, or cuttings of fruit bushes are mostly coming to life. I hope the dead looking ones will still have live roots and catch up soon. Out in the garden the Rhubarb has red nodes where the leaves are forming, lovely sweet young rhubarb coming very soon. I have been planting Nigella and Malope seeds in the difficult corner, I also popped in some hibernating Crocosmia which had been languishing in pots. Unfortunately one Ceanothus which was put in for ground cover seems to have been killed by the frost. The wonky Weigela has been moved to the bed where the giant Spirea lives, we only managed to get about a third of it out. Down on the allotment not a lot has happened. Mainly because I have been away training......

Peas in a bottle

I have joined Garden Organic's Master Gardener scheme and spent last weekend over at Gressenhall for the induction course and to meet the other nineteen new recruits. It was a very enjoyable weekend, I learnt a lot, made new friends and my love of gardening was rejuvenated. Being a Master Gardener is a voluntary post where experienced gardeners go out into their communities to help families or schools or other community groups to grow fruit and vegetables organically. Full details are available on http://norfolk.mastergardeners.org.uk/ I am really looking forward to getting my teeth into this exciting new venture.

Music while you work

I don't know if it is tempting providence but I have taken the spade out of the back of the car. It was in there in case I got stuck in the snow. 

The very sunny weather we've been having has made me think that maybe, just maybe Spring is on the horizon. The blustery bitterly cold wind defies this. According to the weather people we have only until the middle of April to wait for warmer weather, if they had said that in November we'd have laughed at them, now it is a relief. It seems we may be exchanging all this lovely sunshine for rain, which of course is better than snow and will stop all the topsoil blowing off the farmers fields. So there is just a small window of opportunity to get the allotment dug over and the ground prepared for sowing all those things which should have been done several weeks ago.

Bottles of peas

With this in mind I have been busy chitting potatoes & sowing pea seeds and hoping that the broad bean seeds will finally wake up. Many gardeners grow their peas in lengths of guttering so that they can be slid into the ground without disturbing their roots. I haven't tried that and thought I'd give it a go this year. However lengths of guttering are not cheap, I'd also need to buy end stops to. Then I'd have to cut them into manageable lengths, usually about 1metre long. I would have to carry them the length of the garden to put them into the car and drive to the allotment and carry them from car to the right bit of allotment. This sounds like a recipe for disaster! I have come up with a shorter, cheaper more portable alternative. I have used 2 litre fizzy drink bottles instead of guttering. Cut off the top and bottom because they are too thick to cut through without some powered device. Cut in half lengthways (if you look carefully there are seams which will act as guide lines), snip small holes in the bottom of the 'gutter', place both halves into a seed tray, pushed close to one end to keep the compost in place. Then part fill with compost, put in about 14 seeds evenly spaced and cover with compost then lightly water. I planted 84 seeds the other day!

The first days digging

I have at last managed to venture down the allotment to do some work, there is a lot to do. I am still waiting for the rotavating to be done but the potatoes are sprouting and I need to get their beds ready. So I got to work with my trusty stainless steel fork, it is like a hot knife through butter. As usual I think I was alone down there, can't see all the plots but I think nobody else had ventured out. Sometimes I am happy just to listen to the birds, if I have company I will chat but quite often I have music playing on my (borrowed) mp3 player. There is quite an assortment of music on it, lots of greatest hits of different decades or driving rock ballads and some sound tracks from films and shows, things to get you moving. To this I have added some of my own favourites. Needless to say it is a good job I am often alone down there as I sing along to the greatest hits of T.Rex.

Cageless fruit cage

Today I started working at quite a speed, one Bolan song per width of allotment, at first anyway. Either I slowed down or the songs were got shorter but it finished up with two or three songs per width! I think it was shorter songs, well it was the earlier acoustic stuff. After an hour of digging I decided to have a breather and so took the netting off the fruit cage, should have done it before the snows I know! I have discovered a new pet hate (along with wire coat hangers and chewing gum) it is plastic netting. The dreadful stuff grabs hold of every twig it can find whenever you try to gather and roll it up. It is also not

Evil netting

very environmentally friendly so I will stop using it in the future. I will not be using the plastic mesh bean supports again for the same reasons. Having had a breather from digging and run out of T.Rex I had a change of genre and went back to digging with renewed (although short lived) energy. I changed to a new favourite, a surprise one too as it is Scottish pipe and drum music! I grew up hating traditional pipes & drums but this is very different full of energy and passion. Check out Clanadonia (http://www.clanadonia.co.uk/) on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN1wOQ1u9EA and you will hear why I was revitalised and dancing around the allotment – sorry to the dog walkers who passed by! (Whilst looking for the video clip I've found another band very similar called Albannach, will investigate further....) If I am not singing and dancing along to music I am speaking a foreign language, Italian has made way for Czech which is a very difficult language full of consonants in the wrong places, even saying good morning will be a challenge!

May be edible

I finished off by digging up the parsnips I had missed when I last did some digging before Christmas when I was coming down with 'flu.  

Unruly Lonicera

Back at home I have also been busy pruning. Well there was this Lonicera it was overshadowing the rhubarb and choking a holly tree. It isn't any more! Just look at the pictures, I ran amuck with loppers and a pruning saw and now no more unruly Lonicera.  

Unburied Holly

You may think I'd been listening to some mega heavy metal while I did this but no, it was a long planned attack and took very little time so no music was used. The huge Spirea billardii triumphans has been cut down ready for reducing to a manageable size and freeing up some more border for me to plant fuchsias!

Well I think I'm going to be quite busy over the coming weeks, hopefully I'll have time to keep up the blog. I don't think anybody has noticed that I didn't post anything last week! Phew!

Realm of the Ice Queen

This time last year

According to the TV news and weather people this time last year we were basking in temperatures of around 70F – Today it is a smidgen (technical term) over freezing. We woke up to yet another covering of snow and a biting cold wind from the east. Looking on the Met Office website my planned week of gardening may be spent in front of the fire instead;

“Scattered wintry showers, especially in the east, some turning heavy towards midweek. Widespread, penetrating night frosts, locally severe.

Snow Primroses

Outlook for Wednesday onwards; Some sleet or showers are still possible in the east but these will tend to ease. Staying generally cold or very cold with widespread overnight frosts and bitter winds. Rain, locally heavy, probably spreading into southern areas from around Saturday next week and turning to sleet or snow as it moves northwards, giving further snow accumulations in places. Cold or very cold at first, but temperatures recovering to nearer normal across southern areas during Easter weekend.” (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/uk_forecast_weather_noscript.html)

Brave or foolish

Out in the garden a few spring flowers have braved it but nowhere near as many as you would expect at this time of year. 

Like many other gardeners I am frustrated by the continuing cold, unable to get out and get planting. In the greenhouse some broad beans are hiding in tubes of compost waiting for spring warmth. Last year I had already planted raspberries, taters, strawberries, asparagus, broad beans, spinach, carrots, parsnips, beetroot and herbs. At the moment on the allotment there is a row of onions hiding under a cloche and the resident fruit bushes, asparagus and strawberries toughing it out.

January and March are the same

A new life awaits

Its just by the door!

I mentioned the broad beans in tubes of compost – they are toilet roll tubes filled with compost. It made me think about the great tradition of recycling in gardens and on allotments. In the past allotments were filled with wonderful home made sheds, usually made form old doors and cast off windows. Which of course could make an allotment site look like a shanty town if done badly but done well it added character and colour to allotment sites. All manner of things were recycled to make plant supports, plant protection and even seating. Today because owners of allotment land want things to look tidy and uniform and because of an increasing need for security the makeshift sheds have been replaced by mass manufactured ones but the inventiveness of plant supports and other structures remains the same. On a smaller scale it is in seed raising that recycling is particularly useful. With so many plastic containers and food trays being unrecyclable (in this area at least) they get re-used a few times before finally heading off to landfill. The square deep boxes that mushrooms come in are useful for seeds or in the kitchen for vegetable trimmings before composting. The rectangular deep fruit boxes are good for seeds because they have drainage holes in already. Cress containers can be used to grow more cress or similar seeds. Milk containers make useful scoops or funnels. Large clear fizzy drink bottles are very good – cut off the bottom to make individual cloches; cut in half lengthways, cut off the ends and make a manageable length of pea guttering; if you cut fins in them they can be used as spinning noisy bird scarers. No end of assorted household items get used for storage of garden sundries, particularly if they have lids to stop spillage. I think nearly all gardeners use egg boxes for chitting potatoes and I'm sure they have other uses too. As well as household items gardens themselves would be recycled with prunings of hedges and bushes being used as plant supports or protection the following season, plants composted and grass trimmings or swept leaves used as mulches. Perhaps all this recycling and being in tune with nature is why so many gardeners are happy contented people when out on their plot.

Fashion Victims

A Frozen Start

Well with the weather reverting back to winter it has been all systems stop in the frozen garden here. Siberian then Arctic winds, snow, sleet hail, frost and sunshine all in one week! Wildlife doesn't know whether to start nesting or hibernate. Today I drove part of the way to work on frozen snow covered lanes, came home in glorious sunshine. Next week apparantly it is a return to milder but wetter weather, for a few days anyway.

I have been looking at the trends in gardening for this year, for those fashionistas who see gardens as something which has to be changed like a wardrobe of clothes. We can easily ring the changes with annuals, providing your local garden centre follows trends – most of them seem to follow tradition. I tend to think of an ornamental garden as something more long term, allowing shrubs, trees and perennials to settle and establish themselves not be uprooted just because they have become last year's fashion.

Brave Little Dafs

I saw somewhere that Tree Lillies are fashionable this year, providing you can give them the warmth and shelter they need. As they are perennials will they survive or even be in fashion next year? According to one webpage 'Bright Jewel' colours will be in fashion – a great relief for flowers, heaven help us when beige flowers are invented!

Fashionable Jewel colour?

Last year apparently saw an upturn in the popularity of wildflower meadows and this trend is set to continue as part of the general trend for wildlife gardening. This would also tie in with two other trends; one for more naturalistic and native planting schemes. Naturalistic is a bit of a misnomer isn't it, they need to be managed as much as any other style of gardening otherwise it is just an unruly mess. Planting with native plants better able to cope with our bizarre climate is a better idea, less of those fussy, tender, demanding foreign plants will make life a bit easier. With this trend in mind the people at Miracle Gro have come up with a great idea, a variation on their 'Patch Magic' lawn seed this is Flower Magic. In a plastic container they have mixed flower seeds with coir compost and plant food. All you do is prepare a bare patch of earth and scatter it on, hey presto a flower meadow, or if you prefer colour co-ordinated flowers they do pinks or blue and white mixes. I like the sound of it – the garden anarchist in me can see it being used all over the place – writing messages on lawns, or in fields, or creating a piece of art visible from the air!

No way, not even indoors

The other trend is for tactile gardens which encourage us to 'engage with our gardens' and not just walk through them. Engaging with my garden usually means getting down on my knees and weeding – cant get much more engaged than that! I read that there is set to be a rise in the use of 'tactile trees and shrubs' – does that mean getting groped by a Garrya or fondled by a Fagus?!! Perhaps I'll plant a tactile tree and see what happens.

As is often the way when in recession people become nostalgic and this will be reflected in a trend for Victorian styled pots, planters, cloches etc. If people can't afford new nostalgia then recycling will become more popular with all sorts of thing being turned into planters, ornaments, seating, decorations and anything else that they want to make the garden look like an artistic scrapyard.

Shock the neighbours

The grow your own movement may well suffer a wobble, some are predicting an increase in GYO because of hard times. Whilst others are saying it may decrease because of last years dreadful summer and so many failed crops will put off novice growers. An interesting thought is that people will start to grow edible hedges due to foraging becoming trendy. Great for the birds if the hedges are left when that fashion fades.

Stylish recycling

I have never really followed any fashions, I very much doubt I will be jumping on the trendy gardening band wagon. No trees covered in old cutlery masquerading as art, no old toilets used as quirky planters, and we won't be having a fire place installed in the garden either! (supposedly big in outdoor living this year) Non tactile shrubs wont be uprooted in favour of more sensual ones. Bright coloured flowers will not be replaced by jewel coloured ones – hold on aren't they the same?! No I'll just do my own thing as usual.

Walking and Thinking

Cley Marshes

  On the one really sunny day I rebelled against gardening, partly because I had seen the forecast for next week and didn't think it worth getting excited about planting lots of seeds and I am still waiting for the allotment to be rotavated. So I went for a walk, which is why this week's post is called Walking and Thinking, although most of my thoughts weren't worth writing down really!

Beyond saving

Small but perfectly formed

Towards Salthouse

Stonechat

Here on the North Norfolk Coast when it comes to places to walk we have great variety – woodland, heathland, marshes and seashore all in one area. For my walk I think I can say I did all of them, although the woodland was very small. In the warmth of the sun it really felt as if spring had arrived, I was even fooled into believing in the spring when I heard a skylark above my head, although the lack of spring flowers proved this was a false dawn. 

This area is known for its bird life, we get twitchers here all year round. I saw an array of garden birds, blackbirds, bluetits, great tits, robins, dunnocks, starlings etc. as I went up the track towards the woods, adding in farmland birds – pheasants, partridge, pigeons and crows. Then off to the marshes where I saw a stonechat & his mate, curlews flying overhead, snow buntings, lapwings, goose-duck things (I am not a very skilled ornithologist) and assorted waders in the pools. The sea was flat calm and the sun grew hazy with the mist in the air. 

Enough of my waxing lyrical the pictures do it far more justice.......

Goose-duck Things

 Last week I said..... “Now it is officially spring I hope the weather is going to start warming up properly, next week is looking hopeful but we've all been there before – alternating weeks of cold and mild weather” 

Am I allowed to say 'I told you so' ?

We had a few good days and now it is getting colder, today it is cold and foggy and next week  snow and freezing temperatures again!!

Surely one day the warmth will stay.

A New Passion

I am running a bit late this week – I spent most of the week working on my garden design for the RHS/BBC One Show garden design competition. I had an idea when the competition was first announced which featured birch trees, then I downloaded the plant list and found Birch trees were not allowed. After a lot of thought I changed my design to use fruit trees, although the effect is nowhere near as good. I don't have high hopes for my design because I didn’t have good software to create the design, I used programs I found online and they didn’t have half the plants I wanted so I had to improvise. I looked online to buy a garden design program but not only are there very few available but they are not very good and too old to run on windows 8! Well it kept me out of mischief for a while.

I am planning to get out into the garden this weekend, once I've done the housework! Now it is officially spring I hope the weather is going to start warming up properly, next week is looking hopeful but we've all been there before – alternating weeks of cold and mild weather. It will be good to get out there and get digging again. 

Phalaenopsis in flower now

Rescued from the compost bin

When I was at work recently I went to put something in the rubbish and spied something very lovely shivering on the top of the compost bag. A healthy Phalaenopsis Orchid. It still had the faded remains of a couple of flowers on it but the leaves and roots looked very healthy. I couldn't resist it so I gathered it up, saving as much special compost as possible, popped it into a bag and brought it in from the cold. I have cut off the defunct flower spikes, repotted it and now it is sitting on the living room windowsill next to another rescued specimen which is in flower. That's four rescued orchids I have now, the three older residents have all flowered at some point since last summer. The only down point is that they are all white and I really want a purple one! 

My best bloom

It got me to thinking about the rise in popularity and availability of orchids these days. Once the domain of specialist collectors who lavished care on them in specially constructed orchid houses they have now come into the wide world. Admittedly they are mainly the common Moth Orchid (Phalaenopsis) which are really easy to grow and look after (as I have demonstrated) but it could start  a new passion for plant collectors.

New Cambria Orchid

I splashed out on a new Cambria (Vuylstekeara) Orchid, with very pretty flowers and a delicate scent. This is another variety which is easy to look after, come in many different colours and are becoming widely available in high street shops. I have also purchased a book on how to look after orchids. I have found that although there are many which are difficult to look after, still the domain of dedicated specialists, there are many easy specimens available but I will probably have to go to an Orchid specialist if I want any of these in my collection. The problem is where to put them! Some like it hot, some cooler, dry, damp, bright light, lower light – this will severely limit the choice of new arrivals, not matter how lovely they look. I think we'll need a bigger house! 

Right now for  - housework, garden centre then gardening if there is time!