Winter Sowing

Since Christmas (and I mean the second, Orthodox Christmas which takes place 2 weeks after the Western one (yes, we celebrate both!)) I have been trying not to think about the garden. Because, what's the point of getting excited about the new growing season when we're still in the deepest of winters? My fingers itched to do something, so I kept drawing ever more intricate plans of the front garden remodelling (a new rose and a few evergreen shrubby herbs).

Until a friend showed me this: Winter Sowing
Brilliant! I knew that hardy plants could be sown in the autumn, straight into the ground, and that the more common sowing season starts in early spring. But sowing seeds in the middle of winter, that I had never heard of! But when you think about it, it seems intuitively OK... The seeds are still dormant and will continue to be such until the weather and light conditions are optimal. And anyway, what's the worst that could happen? I lose some seeds! Well, it's not as if there's not plenty more where these came from...


Here is one of 3 seed trays that I filled with mostly hardy annual, herb and some perennial seeds. I also used several small plastic pots, and covered everything with a long plastic cloche I had bought, but not used, last year. The cloche has vents on the sides, and it's been wedged down with a couple of bricks. It can be rather blustery around here sometimes, so better safe than sorry!

Rainy Sunday

Yesterday was a miserable, wet, cold day and I didn't do anything in the garden. Today, however, it was sunny and warm, and I did a lot!

1. Repotted my fig tree and placed it in front of a south-facing wall. In a few years, we may even have figs!


2. Planted 6 strawberry plants: 3 Honeoye (early), 1 Elsanta (mid-season) and 2 Symphony (late). I believe that their fruiting seasons will overlap quite a lot, and they didn't influence my choice at the garden centre (B&Q actually). I got those as they looked the best in their little pots. Strawberries produce a little fruit in the first summer, then give their best in years 2 and 3; after that they should be replaced for best results.


3. Sowed seeds indoors: 3 tomatoes Gardener's Delight, 3 courgettes De Nice a Fruit Rond, 1 patty pan squash and 1 butternut squash. Some would say that it's too late to sow tomatoes, and I was considering buying young plants; however, I decided against it. I already had the seed packet, and they may still catch up with the earlier sowings due to starting in (relatively) warm and sunny weather.

4. Sowed some Night Scented Stocks, a hardy annual, straight into the border but also in a pot (seen next to the strawberries). I've never grown them before, but they are supposed to be highly scented in the evenings, so a pot on the patio will help us appreciate them better.

5. Added some compost to the Jerusalem artichoke pods. The plant seem to be flourishing, and as they should reach 2m in height when fully grown, they need a stable anchor. I'm not sure if they are also stem rooting.

More radishes - no pics

The next day I harvested 3 even more plump radishes (they are not supposed to look spherical like ordinary supermarket globes, they are a cylindrical variety called French Breakfast (sic)), and since then I've had whole radishes (including leaves) in salad every day. There are still some growing, and today I sowed some more in the same planter, adding a little bit of potting compost. I think that I should start sowing a few seeds every week, as we really like them. Just - where? I used up all the litter trays, and there's hardly any space left on the patio table...

Spring has sprung!

Officially, yesterday was Spring Equinox, and we actually had a lovely day today!

That meant that we could spend a very productive afternoon in the garden. I cleared the bramble, and this is what that area looks like now:


I was able to pull off a bramble tip that was trying to root into the soil, but the PVC mulch was in the way. No wonder those monsters are so difficult to get rid of! Just look at those alien tentacles digging into the ground:


At the same time, my wonderful SO ("significant other", for those who don't know what that means; I detest the expression "other half", which implies that we are all half-persons) was busy building a trellis that will hide the utility area. Some of the wood batons he had already stained green, and I finished the rest after he fastened everything together. Here is a mid-process picture:


Finally, I found a use for an old cat litter box. After cleaning it with anti-bacterial soap and drilling a few holes for drainage, I filled it with a layer of gravel and B&Q multipurpose compost. I placed it on a stand made from stacked old bricks, and sowed some radish (French Breakfast, on the left) and kohlrabi (Purple Danube, yes, you guessed it, on the right). The former could be ready within 4-6 weeks, and the latter 8-12. I eat radishes almost every day, for breakfast, and kohlrabi is so hard to find in greengrocers' around here, so it would be nice to have some home-grown produce. I have 2 more litter boxes that are not in use any more, so I would be able to practice succession sowing and have fresh crunchy veggies for a whole season.