Chilly frogs
Spotted a few at the bottom of the pond yesterday. As usual, too few females to go round. The water temperature is only 4C so I'm not expecting them to spawn yet. It was March 13th last year so it will be interesting to compare. It is bitterly cold and snow is expected later this week along with sub-zero temperatures. There's no question that it is still winter, despite being March 1st tomorrow.
A colder, later spring
To confirm what we surely already know, the two photos below show how much colder it's been so far this spring compared to 2005. For the past week the night time temperature has fallen to between 0-3C and daytime has crept to 5-6C on a good day. There's a stiff breeze from the north east and it doesn't look inviting out there. However it's not raining and there's much to do. On with the boots...
25th Febuary 2006
14th February 2005
Exam day..
Took my RHS Level 2, PArt I this morning. Went reasonably well I think. A lot to remember and present in 1.5 hours. Like most exams, part knowledge, part memory, part the ability to express yourself under pressure. Doesn't necessarily prove you're good at gardening!
Anyway, with a free half day I had a couple of chilly but useful hours in the garden. Usual hotpotch:
- cleared one of the greenhouse borders, weeded and watered it
- tidied up the strawberry bed
- weeded half of the birch border
- dug up the acanthus from behind the raspberries (but I know it will come back)
- on the spur of the moment, got rid of the winter jasmine in the same spot. It just looks messy for most of the year and I'd like to plant a climbing rose instead.
And there's a tentative plan for a GW MBers day out at Dunham Massey in May, complete with plant swap in the car park. Sounds like a great idea!
No longer Counting Crows
The neighbours had their chimneys rebuilt at the weekend, and I asked the builders if they'd fill in one of our chimney pots which has been nested in by crows for the past few years. I wouldn't have minded rooks, but these hooded crows had taken to screaming from the rooftop and descending en-masse to strip the bird table, Alfred Hitchcock style.
As of this morning there are none to be seen - not even skulking in the elm on the roadside. Oddly, I'm almost sorry. They had come to make up a part of our high level landscape, even if a rather unnerving one.
A hotch-potch of odd jobs
One thing always leads to another in the garden. I tidied up a border area yesterday which led to some bits that might take as cuttings from the anthemis and lithospermum. So once I had some cutting compost mixed, I figured I'd have a go with leafbud cuttings from the pink camelia. Once in the polytunnel I realised that the pelargoniums looked dead and tipped them out. But some had live roots, if dead tops, so I've taken some root cuttings. None of this is the ideal time, but might as well anyway.
All of that meant getting the electric propagator out which meant mixing up some fungicide and cleaning pots, which was when I really saw how bad the shed was. But I've not started on that.
Anyway, only spent an hour or so outside - too cold and fixing our bathroom light was a higher priority. H2 has my cold and is asleep. Had a quick look at the allotments but decided against one for now. Too much else to do.
Spring - for an hour or two
With bright sunshine and almost 12C several bulbs decided to strut their stuff. Two sets of iris reticulata opened up (or similar), one purple, the other a dark carmine. No idea what their names are. Several clumps of white crocuses also did their bit.
Had a bit of a weeding session and also decided to try and stop the polytunnel temperature from plummeting at night by stuffing some of the gaps with fleece. Hopefully the gap between the green and maroon lines on the temperature graph will be a little wider tonight.
Seeds, seedlings and cuttings
Just what a sick girl needs - some good cheer. Some of the meconopis grandis 'Lingholm' seeds have germinated. Apparently they are very prone to damping off so I must keep them cool and aired. Also a little box of magic arrived from Chiltern seeds. All mixture packets from the bargain box rather than single names - I thought I'd be adventurous. Everything from annuals to hardy trees so that'll keep me quiet for a bit. Also, I spotted a few straight one year shoots on the winter cherry so I've taken some hardwood cuttings. Worth a go.
A field of blue poppies in the making - plus a few weed seeds by the look of it.
All mixtures. Click the picture and you can read the packet labels.
A treat for the lemon tree
A few weeks ago I tied down the one strong shoot on the lemon tree to almost horizontal. I picked this tip up from college as a way to make plants branch out, rather than keep sending one shoot upwards (in horticultural terms it's a way of overcoming apical dominance). While sitting in the conservatory nursing my cold I noticed a new side shoot on the horizontal branch and a few more elsewhere. So as a little reward to it, I've sponged off all the scale insect and given it a misting. It was otherwise in the last chance saloon -next stop the compost heap. I'll give it a top dressing at the weekend and see how it goes this summer. It took my mind of the dripping nose anyway.
Rain, crocuses and a wet nose.
Am stuck at home and indoors with a streaming cold (first one for years so can't complain). The high pressure and low temperatures of early Feb have made way for low pressure and rain - the barometer trace for the last 3 days looks like a downhill Olympic ski slope - and an inch and half of much needed rain has freshened the soil and lawn. A few clumps of white crocuses are up but not yet open, as are some irises that I forgotten I'd planted.
Blue skies today and scudding white clouds from the south, but I'll not be venturing outside.
Hilary from college has some Hamamellis virginiana seeds for me. Quite a challenge as they are doubly dormant apparently so it may be some time before I'm grafting my Hamamellis mollis onto it. Might try air-layering this spring instead.
Rained off...
With almost no rain for three weeks I should be grateful for a good downpour - and I am - but it would have been good if it had rained yesterday, or tomorrow. Today was mentally booked as a proper gardening day, not a fence removal, ivy killing day, but a proper winter/early spring session. Still, better to have rain than not. As it's also mild I've moved some of the overwintering plants outside for a rainwater watering.
Below are some pics I took on Friday.
A few Friday lunctime snaps
A few glo-white snowdrops in sunshine
The winter flowering cherry doing it's lovely thing.
Purple Hazel (Corylus avelana 'Purpurea)
A new home for the asparagus
The asparagus plants are winging their way to their new homes via Hilary and Ian at College. I'm sure they'll do better than they were here.
3mm of rain here yesterday - not exactly a downpour but better than nothing. Still only snowdrops out amongst the bulbs - no sign of a crocus flower let alone a narcissus. I need a decent sunny day and an hour or so at home to take a few pictures.
Some plans for this year (apart from passing the RHS General!):
- replace the strawberry plants with new, better varieties
- buy a pot of Acer palmatum seedlings and do some grafting next winter
- get hold of some Hamamellis virginiana seeds/plants and graft the Hamamellis mollis
- take softwood cuttings of the winter flowering cherry
- grow Cavallo Nero cabbage.
- fertilise and water more!
Winter drought
14 consecutive days with no rain. Just 23mm recorded in the whole of Jan. With my light soil I rely on winter rain to build up the moisture level in the subsoil. Still, plenty of spring left for that.
At least the temperature has finally picked up to 8C, and even the cool wind is welcome. We've been locked under high pressure for days on end, with grey cloud smothering the sky over still, cold days. It would be nice to see the sun, or even a smidgeon of blue. We English are so accustomed to active weather that this static iciness is almost spooky.
The asparagus bed is no more
I've dug up the asparagus bed. I might have picked exactly the moment when it was going to produce a worthwhile crop for the first time, but that's the way it is. I need more space for crops that are useful for more of the year. Maybe when we have an acre or three an asparagus bed will fit in, but not here. I'm going to take the uprooted plants to college on Wednesday and see if I can give them away.
That was it for this weekend - an hour and a half squeezed in between being electrician's assistant while we fixed H2's light, and dusk at 4.30pm. Tons of outdoor jobs to do, but too many competing demands on weekend daylight hours.
25th Febuary 2006
14th February 2005
A field of blue poppies in the making - plus a few weed seeds by the look of it.
All mixtures. Click the picture and you can read the packet labels.
A few glo-white snowdrops in sunshine
The winter flowering cherry doing it's lovely thing.
Purple Hazel (Corylus avelana 'Purpurea)
