Reset! The garden awakes and so do I

What a difference a day makes! The first thing I do every morning (even before coffee) is to look out of the window at the sky and my garden area below.  

Just a basin of bulbs popping up

Yesterday it was predictably another day of grey skies and rain. Today, the garden seemed to sparkle under the early morning weak sun. Hurrah!

The sky shows promise of a good dry day ahead, perhaps even a hint of sun. Days like this lift my mood instantly - the potential to get things done and, even now in early February, there are seeds to sow (sweet peas, chillies, peas for balcony pots) and beds to mulch ready for this year's veg and flower seeds.

But first, I have to apologise for neglecting this blog and, in part, the gardens.  I had every intention of returning to a regular writing schedule last year but, as you can see, it didn't happen. There were just too many distractions in the real world not least of which was a neighbour who wanted my* garden cleared of plants and shrubs so that he could sit on a bench in the sunshine.  All this despite him having a south facing balcony.  

(* garden areas here are allocated to any tenant who wants to look after them so, strictly speaking, not my garden but land belonging to the housing association who have allowed me to take responsibility for it.)

The garden in question was one I have been custodian of during the past eighteen years. I have dug, chopped, reclaimed, redesigned and planted. It has plants brought back from my mother's garden after she died ... so, no, I was not going to let it go easily and stated my case.  The garden is now firmly back under my control. Whew.  (Sorry but, wow, that felt good getting that off my chest!)

It's the start of a new season but allow me a brief look back over last year. 

There were far too many failures in the veg garden - newly planted peas and kale were munched, tomatoes didn't ripen in time or were hit by blight, herbs languished, carrots didn't plump up ... shall I go on? And I spent most of my time helping others in their gardens to the detriment of my own spaces. And, yes, I did get totally sidetracked by flowers while my planted veg were decimated by heat, drought, slugs or just sheer neglect. 

But, as they say in Moominland ...

My gardening mantra

So ... slug defences at the ready (beer traps not pellets), seed box sorted (fresh seeds only), and compost bought.  Weeds have been tackled on a regular basis, perennials like gooseberries and roses have been pruned, strawberries have been tidied, lots of self seeded plants (foxgloves, calendula, forget-me-nots) are gradually being transplanted or ruthlessly cleared to make space for future veg.  

I still have to sort out my Hotbin composter; that was another sadly neglected area last year and any compost left in there is likely to be anaerobic now and too acidic.  But it's definitely worth saving; in the past (yes this has happened more than once, oops), I've spread the compost out on top of one of the beds and then tickled it in after a few days with no disastrous results.  In fact, I've read elsewhere that plants such as squash thrive on it.  Sounds exciting!

So, whether you're new to this blog or a returning reader, will you join me on my journey this year? 

Caro x

Nature abhors a vacuum

It seems such a short while ago that I donned thermal layers to weather the cold outside and watched not very patiently for signs of growth in the garden. At last we had some warm hot weather, a tad earlier than expected while the veg patch was still in spring mode, covered in forget-me-nots and daffodils. 

It looked wonderfully frothy ... mainly because it was too early to plant anything. 

Move on a few weeks and I now have to steel myself to ruthlessly remove (some of) the flowers in order to make space for some veg. The forget-me-nots can be pulled out once they've seeded themselves (thank you May winds) but the calendula, linaria and foxgloves will be keeping the bees and pollinators happy for a bit longer. 

I did actually make a start clearing and mulching this area in late winter ... tidying the strawberries, removing some of the raspberry canes that had crept too close to the path, and digging up last year's Jerusalem artichokes (somewhat optimistically hoping that I did actually find them all). 

And having waited patiently for the gentle warmth of spring - ie keeping late March or April in mind to start sowing seeds - a tiny heatwave jump started the heat of summer and denied us any much needed April rain. The hosepipe came out, the water butts were topped up. 

The result? A veg patch of self sown forget-me-nots, calendula, linaria, foxgloves, feverfew, ox-eye daisies and a host of identifiable weeds.  And a windowsill at home full of veg waiting to be planted out. 

On the plus side, the quince tree canopy has spread providing a nice shady spot for spinach. At least, that was the plan but when I walked around the patch this morning, a small meadow seems to have sprung up in the shade of the quince. Very pretty but oops. 

It all looks rather beautiful to my mind - I absolutely adore the zingy oranges, peppermint pinks and purple hues - and love the sounds of bees making the most of this early season bounty.  I admit I've spent more hours admiring the flowers than working in this plot.  

But now it's time. The forget-me-nots are starting to seed all over the garden for next year, last year's pink chard and Cavolo kale have finished and need to be removed, as does the garlic that never bulbed up. 

And, no, I didn't get all the sunchokes out, there seems to be a fair amount of those popping up again. Oops. (But maybe not.)