My gardening DIARY
MONDAY
One of the best aspects of planting bulbs is you sometimes forget about having done it! As I walked through Annie and Alice’s gardens today I was greeted by hundreds of the pale, dainty flowers of narcissus ‘Jenny’.
TUESDAY
Pricking out the first seedlings. Fortunately we’d sown the seeds of cosmos ‘Purity’, whose first new shoots were nibbled by mice, thickly enough that lots more germinated. Now they have their first true leaves and each seedling has its own module compartment.
WEDNESDAY
Deer had gnawed a tray of chard which was si ing on top of our giant vegetable troughs and we’d taken it into the tunnel to recover. It’s growing away strongly now so we’re planting it out but placing metal mesh over it. The deer will have to go without!
THURSDAY
Surveying water damage. We’re lucky being on a slope, but nonetheless soil has been washed off the beds and new rivulets have appeared here and there. Standing water on level paths is an indication of just what a deluge there has been.
FRIDAY
A sure sign of just how windy it was is the amount of debris that has been shed and that we’re now picking up. Not just twigs but small branches have been lost from oak and ash around the perimeter. A good thing in a way since most of it seems to be dead wood.
SATURDAY
Longing to plant out more perennials waiting in the wings. It’s always an equation balancing the condition of the soil with the growth that plants have reached and their need to go out.
SUNDAY
Although we hand-pollinated several hellebores, bad weather prevented our following up to ensure pollination. Some flowers have been bashed and a few stems broken so we’re repeating some of the crosses with new flowers on sunny days.