After a night of mixed weather (cold, hail, frost), the sun may be out but the wind is cold. Not a day to potter outside, so I’ll be getting on with my end-of-module writing and dipping in and out of other Sixes on Saturday for a bit of light relief.
I finally moved the pots of Pickwick crocus, anemone Blanda Bleu and muscari to a lighter and brighter area of the patio, and the extra light has already made a difference. After a week, the crocus are coming to an end, the anemones are flowering, and the muscari have emerged.
After a grey but dry start to the morning the sun has broken through the cloud cover. If it hangs around long enough, I might be tempted out to the front garden to remove some dead foliage.
I’ve been watching sparrows collecting dried Mexican feather grass, one had so many rammed into its beak it could hardly take off. Despite plenty of interest, I don’t think we have any blue tits nesting in the bird box, which is a shame. This time last year, we were building the Tiny Greenhouse and they were in and out of the nest box all day long.
Never mind, there is always plenty of wildlife to see in other Six on Saturday posts, hosted by The Propagator. I’ll be popping in from time to time to have a look between study activities.
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This pot of mizuna mix is now supplementing our salads. It’s a shame it couldn’t do the same over the winter months as intended! I have a tray of the same leaves in the Potting Shed, and some new lettuce seedlings are making an effort.
I prepared this week’s SoS early as I’m having my Covid jab at 8.30 am, so by the time you read this, the deed should be done! I mentioned last week that hubbie had had his jab the day before; my (younger) brother had his on Monday and slept from 4.30 pm until 5.30am the next morning – so it may be sometime before I get round to reading everyone’s contributions to The Propagator’s Six on Saturday weekly international virtual event.
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On my brother’s advice, I went ahead and snipped out the growing tips of the ‘Cupani’ sweet peas. By quite a lot.
My sarracenia pitcher plant has been enjoying a winter holiday, first in the cold conservatory, now in the potting shed. The older ‘pitchers’ are dying back – as they are supposed to – and will eventually be snipped off. It will need repotting when the weather warms up and it starts growing again, though there are tiny pitchers appearing already. Hopefully, I should be able to divide it at the same time.
The first ‘Pickwick’ crocus and the first anemone ‘Blanda Bleu’ have appeared in my galvanised pots; and the muscari have buds forming. I’m looking forward to seeing these pots in full bloom.
My brother made me this gadget for pressing down compost in seed trays: I’m sure it has an official name. What do you call yours?
Apparently it’s called a tray tamper or a press board!
I’ve given up using my smallest module trays for sowing vegetable seeds; it’s too difficult to extract the seedlings without wrecking them or the small cells. Instead I’ve treated myself to these – 2 packs, 40 pots in all.
And with my hanging basket liners literally hanging by a thread, I’ve invested in this sheet of liner material so I can cut my own.
Everything I know about gardening I've learnt from a combination of my mum, Carol Klein and Monty Don. My garden is a tiny 2x3m yard requiring a lot of TLC...
