Perfect weather for just looking
Beautiful day. High pressure and still. Sun came out about 1pm and it was wall to wall blue for a few hours. The grass seemed to grow half an inch and the first clutch of cream crocuses tentatively opened up.
A small flock of greenfinches spent the afternoon picking at the poplar branches. A pair of collared doves hopped nonchalantly through the birch tree. The crows preened each other in the elm on the street and the song thrush belted out his call for a mate.
I spent the day in the garage, which fortunately looks out on the garden so I could stop every now and again and admire the way the light caught the bright winter stems of the cornus and the frothy fronds of the miscanthus, not yet cut down.
There's much to do, but it can wait a little.
Up in smoke
At the end of the garden is my trusty polytunnel, smoke seeping out of its seams. It's had its winter clean up today - sprayed with Citrox disinfectant, scrubbed and hosed down. I've also taken off the top two inches or so of soil from the borders, to cut down any resident pathogens.
Having stripped it bare I lit a sulphur candle inside to kill of any final malevolent material. Bit bothered about the ground spiders that live in it - hope they had the sense to scarper before it got going properly.
the year starts here...
My delivery from Chase Organics arrived - a box full of promise for next year's garden. Job for this weekend is to clean and smoke out the polytunnel. The broad beans can go in now - then just wait for the weather to warm up.
Next year's garden in a box
no gardening
Spent a day taking the Merc apart and went for a bike ride today instead. Sorry garden - maybe next weekend.
UP to 13C today, some sun, one shower, 13mph max wind. Took the rain guage down to test it.
mental state and lifespan
Apparently people with a healthy mental outlook on life live longer. I take this to mean people who see life as half full, rather than half empty, people who relax easily, laugh a lot, worry little.
On the face of it nothing gets to me, I slide through life's minor troubles with barely a ripple. Under the surface I'm also calm and pragmatic, though there's always a wish list of things I'd like to do. But when I'm asleep my dreams betray me. I'm always late, or nearly late, or something's going wrong and I can't do much about it, or I'm meant to be doing something and the goalposts are moving. Last night I dreamt I was catching a plane to Canada - but this turned out to be via Athens so I was in the wrong terminal. The fare on the ticket was wrong so I had to re-work it out myself. My kids turned up late (I didn't know they were coming with me). You get the picture.
At this rate I reckon I'll be dead at 70...
In true English winter style, we've gone from 10C and 30mph winds to 1C and completely still. The barometer graph for the last two weeks looks like seafront fairy lights, dipping up and down every 48 hours.
A senior member of staff has resigned, my intestines hurt, it's cold and summer is a long way off. I've had better days.
Work, life and Peter Singer
Peter Singer's book asks 'How are we to live?', meaning, 'what constitutes a life lived well today?'. His answers lay in sustainability, environmental responsibility and active wealth redistribution. For Singer, giving to charity is not a 'good' thing, but just the right thing. Not giving is plain bad.
How does this translate into an ordinary working life. Will I look back and feel that I 'lived well'? How will I work this out? If in the course of running a business I create jobs, treat staff well, pay them fairly, recycle our laser print cartridges and use water-based paint on the door frames, does that do it? If I lived off the land, would that be better - or would I be pricing someone else out? What if I farmed organically - would that make it right, or should I earn what I can and spend it ethically, thus supporting the organic industry and giving more to charities than I could if I lived a cashless life?
Yes, this is navel gazing and yes, I should get out more. But this is about living once, living right and being happy in the skin I'm in.
A winter turning point
Got my membership pack through from HDRA (
www.hdra.org.uk). Ordered seeds and organic pest control stuff from Chase organics. Plan for this weekend is to disinfect and smoke out the polytunnel. Ordering seeds marks the beginning of the new growing year. A turning point
Hamamelis (Witch Hazel) in flower Jan 05
Propogation experiment
I've got two wonderful winter trees that I'd like to propogate. I don't know how, so I'm planning to experiment and see what works. I do know that neither need grafting, so in theory cuttings or seeds should work. Both trees are pictured below, earlier in the Jan blog.
Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis':
This involved the highly technical process of cutting some young twigs off and poking them in the ground. Er, that's it. Will have a go at doing summer cuttings properly next year.
Sorbus 'Joseph Rock'
1. As above.
2. Collected berries, crushed in some water and picked out the small brown seeds. Put half the seeds in the fridge (winter simulation). Sowed the other half in compost, watered, covered with cling film and put in unheated conservatory. MUST REMEMBER TO WATER THEM!
Saw firrst primrose and yellow crocus. Mild and windy. Flock of geese flew W to E in nested V formation.
8 Jan 2004 weather graph. I like the symmetry of the barometer trace. Gives a much better 'picture' of a depression than all those isobars I think. The red trace is maximum wind speed in mph, the blue is average windspeed. The anomometer is only 10ft off the ground. Local windspeeds in exposed spots were 70-80mph. Carlisle is cut off - the River Eden flooded. We only had half an inch or so here.
Wild weather and Brahms
The north west living up to it's inclement reputation with lashing rain and high winds. Not enough to do any damage, but enough to rattle the house and wake me up. What with work and the weather, I gave gardening a miss and went to a Brahms concert at RNCM with the neighbours. Not that I know my Brahms from my Brahmins, but enjoyed it all the same. One day their valiant efforts at raising our cultural awareness might pay off. Very heartwarmingly, they had sponsored one of the pieces in our name.
AB - the berries are from a type of rowan tree, called 'Joseph Rock' The common ones are red - they grow wild as well as cultivated. If you have a little space they're a joy to grow. And the polytunnel is the green sludgy area on the photo - a plastic greenhouse if you will. The green tint is not algae, just built in shading. Bought it from www.solartunnels.co.uk. Had it 7 years and it's still in good nick. Happy to recommend it.
Weather mild, min 3C max 13.2C, wind gusting up to 30mph, 7mm rain, baro 992 and falling.
Nice tree, shame about the polytunnel
Sorbus 'Joseph Rock'
Slid home at lunchtime and took some pics of the berries on Sorbus 'Joseph Rock' . Well-behaved tree, something going for it all year round. Am going to have a go at propogating it (making babies). So I need a couple of ordinary rowan seedlings to have a go at grafting. Am also going to try winter cuttings and sowing the seeds to see which works best. Will report back...
Know your onions
Back to work today. Dark before and after so gardening is off until the weekend. New fence looks nice though - good paint job!
I need a free baby rowan tree (explanations later). Have to get out and find a self-seeded one, or find some berries and try to grow one. A trip round the local parks is required I think.
When is an onion not an onion? I've got a question to write on onions for my gardening correspondence course. Do I include leeks and/or garlic? Both are edible alliums. I'm assuming shallots and spring onions are in. Think I'll leave them out and see what happens.
Weather: 3mm of rain this morning. 10.6C max 6.2C min. max wind 19.2mph. Baro 1014
Watching paint dry
It's been dry all day so I painted the new fence green. Plan is to plant mainly white flowering climbers against it. So far I've picked up Clematis armandii and Clematis 'Early sensation'. Both are evergreen so that's a start.
In flower right now are:
- Witch hazel (hamamelis - don't know which variety) Masses of primrose yellow, spidery, scented flowers - stunning. Can see it from my PC.
- Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis'. The best winter flowering cherry in the world (see below). Don't be put of by the pretentious name. Grow one
- Viburnum bodantense 'Dawn'. Clusters of pink flowers on bare branches. A bit of an ungainly thing, but very scented so it earns it's keep
- A couple of dusty pink hellebores.
- Winter Jasmine (yellow)
Other things that look good:
- Sorbus 'Joseph Rock'. Dripping with yellow berries still.
- Sorbus hupehensis. Still with a good smattering of white berries. Looks fabulous against the night sky with the berries lit up by the outside lights.
- Viburnum davidii and tinus. Not in flower yet, but firm white buds and strong green foliage mock January's chill winds.
Birds out today: usual suspects plus coal tit and dunnock
Weather: 8-10C most of the day. Min 6.2 last night. Ave wind 4mph from the south. Baro 1019
Picture: A bronze phormium weighed down with snow. The yellow dots in the background are berries from Sorbus 'Joseph Rock'. Boxing Day 2004.
Picture: Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis' on Boxing Day 2004
On not gardening
Like a true fair weather gardener, I've been keeping an eye on the weather and never quite fancied putting my boots on. The outdoor thermometer says 6C but the wind was whipping across the garden with a discouraging whistle. Better to spend the day anticipating spring by scouring seed catalogue sites and setting up my first weblog.
Spotted a redwing in the garden on Christmas Eve, tugging red berries off the holly. First time I've seen one - slimmer than a thrush, same spotty chest, but more stripy(stripey?) - the spots seem sort of lined up. Obvious red blush under the wings. My favourites here are the long-tailed tits. They sweep through the garden in a small mad flock, chirrupping furiously, flitting from tree to tree. Other regulars include great tit, blue tit, greenfinch, chaffinch, thrushes, blackbirds, sparrows, collared doves and rooks (they nest in our chimneys - I really don't mind). Was thrilled to see a pair of buzzards wheeling over the M62 a few weeks ago. Seen them several times since so must be resident.
We had a little snow here on Christmas Day which froze for a day or two, but we're west of the Pennines and it never lasts. Just very windy at the moment - gusted up to 30mph last night and 20mph today. Windchill of about 2C. Assuming better weather tomorrow I'm hoping to get some more clearing up done and maybe paint the new fence.
A happy and successful gardening year to you all.
