My gardening diary
MONDAY The ground is still so wet in places we’re spreading old silage sheet (thick black plastic) over areas where we need to sow vegetables soon. Even if we’d planted green manure we’d have been unable to dig it in!
TUESDAY Repo ing auriculas grown from seed. The dreaded vine weevil have a acked our primroses in pots but so far they’ve left the auriculas alone. Many of our seedlings flowered unexpectedly last autumn and there were some interesting colours. Each one is given its own clay pot.
WEDNESDAY Autumn-flowering raspberries have made vigorous canes that we must cut back to the ground if they’re to flower and fruit well. At the same time we’ll lift a few canes that have strayed from the straight and narrow and replant them in a new bed. I’m tempted to try a few in the giant tree pots that are standing vacant.
THURSDAY Though there’s always plenty in the shops, you can’t beat home-grown broccoli. Thompson & Morgan is offering 10 plants of four varieties of club rootresistant brassicas, including a summer one. Sounds interesting.
FRIDAY We’re trying two new spuds, ‘Elfe’ and ‘Carolus’ and they’re now on the greenhouse shelf in paper egg boxes. It’s reassuring to see stout li le shoots ge ing ready to grow. We’re also growing ‘Belle de Fontenay’.
SATURDAY Weeks ago weather forecasters were warning of a cold March but my roses are going to get their final pruning now anyway. If the frost damages the top buds we can always trim further down the stem later on.
SUNDAY It’s Mother’s Day next week and although I won’t see our girls I know they’ll be in touch. It was lovely when they were li le and my mum was visiting us. They’d pick bunches of primroses or any other flowers they could lay their hands on.