Dreaming of a crocus and snowdrop carpet!
This winter has turned out to be the coldest we've experienced here for many years. It’s no bad thing, I’ll appreciate the warmer days even more when they arrive. There are signs all around the garden that spring can’t be far away. Snowdrops are currently flowering well. My dream is that one day we’ll have a carpet of them, intermingled with crocus, covering the spring borders and across the area of grass to the side of the house. It’ll be a while yet before the dream is realised but they’re spreading and I divide and replant the larger clumps every two or three years. Iris reticulata are a great favourite; we have several varieties dotted around. Flowering at the moment are ‘Harmony’ and ‘Katharine Hodgkin’. Hellebores are another favourite and they’re starting to get into their stride. Most of them were bought years ago from Ashwood Nurseries and many happy hours have been spent there examining every single plant before making a purchase!
The greenhouse is unheated so I have to use horticultural fleece to protect pelargonium cuttings over winter. On the coldest nights I place a double layer over the plants and so far they’re fine. I've received a box full of dahlia tubers, which I’ve potted up, and they’re tucked up in the greenhouse along with other
dahlia tubers that I’ve overwintered and now also potted up.
We’ve set aside an area in the orchard to grow potatoes rather than growing them in raised beds in the veg garden, and have trays of seed potatoes currently chitting in the spare room. My heated propagator is inside and I’ve started sowing a few seeds, transferring the pots to the greenhouse before the seedlings get too leggy.
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