Today is not a good day for gardening. It's literally blowing a gale and raining more often than not, but that's fine as I really need to get on with writing up some revision notes - specifically, learning the life-cycles and means of combatting a range of insect and animal pests. It's the Defence against the Dark Arts bit of the course!
Yesterday was different - fabulously bright and crisp, like a perfect early spring day, and not really what 2nd January should be like at all. An ideal opportunity to turn over the compost heaps into one big stack with added horse manure and straw, and a reminder that garden resolutions no. 1 and no. 2 are to collect manure regularly after my horse-riding lessons, and not to add the manure too early to the veg plots (apparently it can take nitrogen out of the ground to decompose).
Garden resolution no. 3 involves better management of seedlings, rather than nurturing them through their early stages and then losing interest when they get to the pricking out stage and leaving them to go all spindly or damp off. In my defence I really don't let this happen to most seedlings, but there are always a couple of trays of something I'm not sure about, and probably got as a free packet or thought was too old to germinate, that just seems to be too troublesome. The rule this year is simple - if you don't know where to plant it, don't sow it.
Resolution no. 4 is a tougher weeding regime - also inspired by college lectures and the horrifying thought that many weed plants can shed tens of thousands of seeds several times a season, some producing viable seed without even being pollinated first.
Finally (let's not overdo it, after all), I'm going to sow salad leaves much more frequently, in small pots, all through the year, and starting today. And grow them in slightly larger, shallow pots or trays for sale too.
The gardening business has one resolution only for the first full year: don't actually lose money!
