My spring clean is well under way!
Work on the allotment has been sporadic due to the weather, but we’ve still got some Brussels sprouts to harvest. They’ve done well but will soon come to an end. There are still some cabbages, turnips and swedes to bring in as well.
I took some soil samples from all the allotment beds and the front and back gardens at home, including the chrysanth beds. I’ll be testing them all for pH to see if any lime is needed.
My main job at home has been spring cleaning my propagating greenhouse ready for the coming season. I transfer all the plants to the other greenhouse, brush the staging and shelves and spray them with disinfectant. I also clean all the windows, inside and out, and sweep the floor.
I’ve two warming benches consisting of warming cables between layers of sand. I replace the sand each year. I’ve got a home-made propagator, which I fix in its position. There are trays on the staging in the summer that contain grit. They help to create a moist atmosphere. This, however, is the opposite of what the plants want at this time of year, so I remove the grit. I then transfer some of the plants back from the other greenhouse and put some of the boxes of chrysanthemum stools on one of the warming benches. I’ve also washed all my seed trays and some of my plant pots. I have hundreds, so it’ll take a few more weeks to finish them.
Before you read this I’ll probably have taken the first chrysanthemum cuttings and sown some seeds. The first will be the exhibition onions and the first flower seeds will be lobelia, penstemons, petunias and salvias. These all go in my home-made propagator.
Some leeks I ordered have arrived and I’ve potted them into small yoghurt pots. The shallots have also been planted. I start them off in 9cm (3½in) pots.
I’ve given the lawns their annual treatment. I scarify them first, then spike them all over with a fork, leaving gaps of about 15cm (6in). I then brush sand all over, which goes into the holes to help the drainage.