Prepare for the ‘mixed blessings’ of equinox

We’ve reached the spring equinox and daylight is overtaking darkness, triggering plants into growth and giving us extra time for the garden.

It’s a landmark in the gardening year and a sign that we can now start sowing seeds and putting the vegetable plot back into production.

But the equinox is a mixed blessing as it’s often accompanied by snow, hail and blustery conditions.

In my garden, hailstones nipped blossom from the branches, rain saturated the soil and high winds brought down a large tree, laying it neatly along the length of the grass verge.

Fortunately no one was hurt and nothing was damaged and our local branch of ‘neighbours with chainsaws’ made quick work of the problem.

After last month’s recordbreaking high temperatures, this all seems reassuringly normal, although I’d have been happier if my daffodils hadn’t been snapped off at ground level or battered into the mud.

Meanwhile a friend of mine has been puzzling over the absence of flowers on his daffodils, which were only planted a couple of years ago. He suspects that the bulbs suffered during last year’s sizzling temperatures and haven’t had enough strength to flower again.

At the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh they’ve been monitoring the results of weird weather in all four of their gardens.

Last year sunshine levels soared at Logan in Dumfries and Galloway. Dawyck Botanic Garden near Pebbles recorded its driest May since records began and Benmore, which also exceeded previous temperature records, reported that rainfall figures for January are in a long-term

upward curve.

At the RBGE’s main base in Edinburgh, a major fund raising effort is about to be launched to replace the public glasshouses and research greenhouses that were smashed by last year’s storms.

Climate change isn’t just confusing for plants, it’s also proving to be expensive.

So what can we do to futureproof our gardens? Well I think it all comes down to remembering the basics and that means improving the soil, creating sheltered spots and selecting plants that have a track-record for toughness.

It means staking trees properly while they are young, so that they develop robust root systems, and having fleece on hand to throw over tender blossom on nights when frost is forecast.

And it also means taking cuttings – lots of them. If you are going to grow plants that you know might not survive spells of wild weather, then it pays to take out an insurance policy, and that means having replacements ready in case the worst does happen.

Cuttings are a numbers game. Not all of them will survive, but if you’ve taken enough then at least some of them should make it to maturity.