My gardening diary
MONDAY
Ipomoea lobata, an exciting Mexican plant in the same family as convolvulus, is often known as Spanish flag, its red-tipped flowers turning to yellow along dark stems. To make sure of germination it’s best to soak seeds overnight. They do best with bottom heat, though it isn’t essential. Flowering begins after midsummer.
TUESDAY
Our Lilium regale were put in pots a few weeks ago, planted deep down with just the tips of the bulbs showing. As they begin to grow, we’re topping up their pots with loam-based compost an inch or two at a time.
WEDNESDAY
Doing battle with couch grass is an ongoing problem. In Alice’s garden, which is densely planted with many chunky perennials, there are a few ominous green shoots popping up here and there. For those of us who won’t use weedkillers, the only way to get rid of it is to lift plants and wheedle out its nasty rhizomatous roots.
THURSDAY
Hellebores are such a promiscuous lot; there are always seedlings around parent plants. Most of our hellebores are planted in the small beds in the shady part of the garden and they’re most effective when all the plants in one bed are a similar colour. To that end, we’re weeding out pink-flowered plants in one big bed where our best white-flowered plants reign.
FRIDAY
Now that snowdrops – all of them galanthus ‘S. Arno ’ and the lile iris ‘Katharine Hodgkin’ – are up and about in the boom raised beds, we can get on with mulching with our best vintage muck without putting it too close to the small bulbs that live there. Raised beds can gradually lose some of their fertility and its important to top them up.
SATURDAY
When you see so much bare soil, it’s tempting to scater a few seeds of hardy annuals around. Even if just a few germinate, they’ll flower early, filling exposed spaces, providing nectar for insects and helping suppress weeds. Cornflowers, pot marigolds and poached egg plant, Limnanthes douglasii, all fit the bill.
SUNDAY
Valentine’s Day is coming up and I’m preparing hyacinths galore to fill the cottage with their beautiful fragrance!