It’s all go in the garden – Spring has Sprung!

Gosh it’s all go at this time of year!

I’ve been sowing seeds on and off since the end of January now, when I started with the chillies.

It’s been a continuous cycle of sowing, then potting the seedlings on once they’re big enough to be handled.

I actually risked putting them out into the greenhouse a couple of weeks ago. Thank goodness it had finally turned milder as I was totally running out of space on the windowsills!

Anyway I’m glad to report that they’re all doing well, streaking ahead now they have so much more light. It’s just a case of keeping a close eye on the watering situation. Especially on those warm sunny days, the little pots can soon dry out.

I do have some big lids that I can cover the seedlings with if it gives frost, which to my amazement we did have on Tuesday morning.

Re-cycling Toilet Rolls

As usual I’d sow sugar snaps in toilet rolls, quite a few weeks ago now. I do this as they don’t like their roots being disturbed and the cardboard just disintegrates in the ground once you plant them out.

I got the first few planted and sowed a few more. I only do about half a dozen at a time and ‘try’ to remember to sow more every few weeks, to extend the harvesting period.

The sugar snaps have gone into the ‘beany’ bed, where the broad beans are already well underway. They have more flowers on every time I look at them, and they are such a beautiful crimson flower, accept for the first flower which was the traditional white.

It’s hard to believe how hardy they are, having been snowed on, and frozen goodness knows how many times since they were sown back in October.

I’ve actually got around to staking them early for the first time this year. In theory they don’t really need staking but every year as they are nearly ready for harvesting, we seem to get gale force winds and they get blown over.

Slightly Late, Early Potatoes

Another job that had reached the top of the list was to get the chitted seed potatoes into their pot. I would normally have planted them out at the very beginning of March but it just wasn’t fit. They were showing the first signs of drying out so it was critical to get them planted. They are now under a cosy layer of compost and I have another free windowsill!

I’ve pulled up the last of the purple sprouting broccoli and Italian kale and the brassica bed has become the roots bed once more. The three varieties of beetroot have now been direct sown and I await with anticipation to see the first little leaves poke through the soil.

The group of vegetables grown in each of the four beds changes each year as I follow my crop rotation plan.

The Flowers

As for the flowers in the garden, well it feels like more open from me walking down to the compost bins to my my walk back!

Talking of the compost bins, the scent in the air down there in the white garden, which is coming from the Skimmia shrub and the Hyacinth bulbs is quite intoxicating, it fills the whole area.

The snowdrops have gone over, the Hellebores are starting to go over, but as one fades another takes its place. The newly planted Bergenia ‘Bressingham White’ is looking good, the Hyacinth and Muscari bulbs are in full flower and the white daffodils are very close to flowering.

In the woodland border there is colour exploding everywhere, as the blossom on the trees and crocus were taken over by the Primulas, Hyacinths, blue Muscari, pink Bergenia, and Daffodils. Not to mention foliage erupting all around them. What a wonderful time of the year!

The Pond

And finally, I’m sure you’re all dying to hear what’s happening in the pond.

The little dots in the middle of the frogspawn started to elongate, then gradually started taking the shape of tadpoles. This week as the weather turned mild they started wriggling and managed to break free of their jelly beginnings and are now happily swimming around trying not to get eaten!

The Marsh marigolds ‘Caltha palustris’ have really spread nicely around the pond and are causing a real splash (pardon the pun) of colour.