New Year Gardening Waffle

Who's eaten my tree then?

It’s a great spring we’re having this winter. I still have my cacti outside and they are looking more than happy.  After saying that, they are sheltered from the cold and rain under an eve.

I’ve solved the hassle of recycling my Christmas tree too. I found out that my dog has a bit of a taste for fir and has managed to reduce the branches to shreds. More about that pest later....

Loads of other trees have buds forming, my nasturtium seeds have sprouted and the broccoli doesn’t know where it is and has been throwing out florets since November. My grass is still growing like it’s summer and we’re still getting autumn mushroom growing on tree stumps.

The frosts will come though, that I am sure and we do need them to keep the annual cycle of living and dying going smoothly. But for now I’ve been doing some jobs I would normally do in March.

Getting on with it

I couldn’t put off cleaning up the tunnel any longer as it felt very humid and musty, even with the doors open.  It’s been so mild that the tomatoes and squash plants haven’t died off completely but they did get a serious dose of damping off. As you brush past what’s left of the plants they throw out millions of tiny spores which are thriving in the mild damp conditions. I’m composting most of the plant and hopefully the frost will kill off anything else as I prepare the soil for spring. I’m expanding the beds a bit this year too so I can grow more salad crops this year. It sounds very organized but what I really mean is that I am pulling back a couple of sheets of woven fabric to uncover a bit more soil for planting. Job done. 

The tunnel will also be the place for new vegetable seedlings so I am giving the tables a thorough cleaning too to keep diseases to a minimum. I have seed containers from last year so those will get a bit of a scrubbing too.

Decisions

I haven’t decided what to grow this year, but I’m sure it’ll be mostly the old favourites (broccoli, kale, tomatoes, beans, peas) with a few newcomers thrown in for good measure; I quite fancy growing gherkins for pickling. I might try some root vegetables this year for a change and work on why I don’t usually have much success with them. It might give me a chance to assess the soil and planting spaces to see elements I need to improve on. Gardening is very much a trial and error/ learn as you go affair so later on this year I’ll hopefully be telling you of my parsnips with metre long roots and beautiful straight, tapering carrots. 

Don’t forget the flowers

I’ll also be putting in a few flower seeds for some summer colour, and also so I can talk about them here. I do tend to go on about vegetables a bit more than flowers as you may well have noticed so that could address the balance. The  two planters I made up for my father in law as a present has inspired me to be a bit more colourful and reminded me that when we lived in Clonbeg and sold bedding plants, I’d be making planters like these up every day.  I learnt my lesson at that time that less in a planter is best. I did cram them in for people hoping they would get more value for their money but it didn’t work out like that as a lot of plants suffered in the small confines of the pots. Less is more definitely, giving the plants room to grow.

Another doggie dilemma

I’ve had a few of the neighbours calling around recently. Instead of bearing gifts, they were coming to me with the news that one of our dogs has been seen enjoying night time raids on bird tables, compost bins and left over cat food around the area. It took me two weeks but I think I’ve finally made the garden secure enough to keep her in. It took a new back gate, a lot of rolls of chicken wire, and blocking off any tiny hole that I see. 

I am amazed at her dedication to roaming free, it must be the lure of birdseed, and it got to the stage where she couldn’t run anymore because of bloating. She’s just waddle along beside us around the park instead of rummaging in the hedgerows as normal.  She’s secure for the time being until her next great escape. In the man time out garden now looks like a fortress and gives people the impression that we are trying to keep people out instead of the dog in. That’s my excuse for now getting many visitors over the holiday period anyway.