We had a brief taste of summer this weekend, which is always dangerous, encouraging reckless gardening. Bumblebees, butterflies and ladybirds appeared in the warm sunshine, and while the wind was cold, there was a proper sense of winter being behind us. Much digging and planting ensued, only to find the
Countryfile forecast on Sunday evening warning of frost, snow, high winds and heavy rain.
Too bad. The first taters are in - only the very earliest of the earlies, a bed of
Foremost with an insulating floating cloche over the top, at least until those high winds come battering in. There are enough for a couple more beds so I'll be planting more in succession over the next few weeks, in the garden. I plan to grow the second early
Kestrel on the allotment, but the
Sarpo Mira and
Pink Fir Apple maincrop are also going in the garden to rest some of the allotment plots where millipedes have been an issue.
The plan is beans, brassicas and squashes for most of the allotment this year, none of which need to go in for several weeks, giving us plenty of time to get the winter covering of manure and the well-rotted compost dug in. The latter has been breaking down for years in a big compost heap that J heroically dug out this week. It's such fine stuff I'm even contemplating another attempt at carrots, my 'bogey' crop, though hopefully parsnips will be successful.
I have my collection of out-of-date seeds to continue testing too. I was resigned to writing off the broad bean experiment (see 'The Germinator' post), and had gone so far as to buy fresh seed to start. Then, this weekend, over a month after planting, the first few leaves appeared in the cardboard tubes! Germination has been patchy (assuming there aren't more to come - which there could still be) so I shall be glad of the extra seed I bought.
I have finally dug the weeds and excess perennials out of the front garden, which looks quite bare now, especially with the transplanted snowdrops finishing and the crocuses fading. The exception is a pretty little patch just outside the front door. There should soon be more perennial growth and I'm hoping the young hellebore plants will take in the two lower sections, and that I can split the plants in the back garden to share them around the borders there. Once again, they have put on a glorious show.
The plan is to add extra colour to the front garden next spring with miniature iris and
Tete-a-tete narcissi. There are still plenty of Aquilegias despite bundling up literally hundreds for sale to support the work biscuit fund, the Alchemilla is (hopefully) back to sustainable levels, the oriental poppies have been split and replanted and some of the spare foxgloves from the back garden have been re-homed at the front, so there should be a good early summer display again. The Japanese anemones should be back in greater numbers for later summer colour, but the out-of-date seed bank should supplement them with sunflowers, annual poppies and annual chrysanthemums, all of which can then be easily cleared away when the 'Winter Garden' plants are ready to bloom.
For now, however, you'll have to use your imagination!
