Bees, Butterflies and Blooms

I am all fired up about pollinators! Inspired by BBC2's Bees, Butterflies and Blooms, which talked about not just annuals but perennials too, I intend to grow more insect-friendly wildflowers not just at the lottie but also in the difficult, narrow areas around our patio. Poor soil, full sun...sounds just right.
I will have to remove the chipped bark from the borders which is, of course, not a welcoming environment for tiny little flower seed. But that is no great problem: it is wearing pretty thin and has been scattered about by our resident blackbirds anyway. I will have a look at what seed mixes I already have. I know there are a few.
Him Indoors won't be impressed as I don't think he regards such planting as sufficiently "tidy". Never mind. If he doesn't read this he won't find out until it is too late!
Tonight's programme also showed a border with flowers interspersed with runner beans. Not sure how practical that would be in term of physically getting to the beans to pick them - but I wonder if that could work in the front garden?

Almost planting time

I know it is not Spring yet but it is starting to feel like planting time. I have enough common sense to know that temperatures are still too low for outside planting, but the greenhouse is calling...! I had reasonable success growing carrots in containers last year, as you can see, so my thoughts have turned to what else might be worth a try.

I had intended to plant a few of my potato surplus from last year in an old compost bag inside the greenhouse, in the hope of an early crop. They were just desperate to grow. Even in the gloom of our garage the remaining tates had produced masses of shoots, so I had put half a dozen into the greenhouse to chit in the light. After last weekend's incredibly low temperatures, however, the shoots were black and the tubers had softened and were oozing slightly. Not nice at all. So those have gone in the compost bin.

But never fear...my seed potatoes arrived yesterday: 10 tubers each of 6 varieties. So instead of last year's rotting surplus I have planted 3 nice shiny new Rocket seed potatoes, described by the producer as "Easy to grow and quick to produce 'baby new potatoes'... particularly well suited to growing in containers and potato bags". Sounds ideal doesn't it? And much more likely to succeed.

Reading other people's advice online it is clear that I will need to remember to water them lots and give them a regular feed. Last year's remaining tomato feed should do the trick, me thinks...and the remaining 57 tubers of varying types will be planted on the lottie when things warm up a bit.

The Sylvanian Massacre

Not much was achieved at the lottie last week as we were busy with children's birthdays. As you can imagine, coming straight after Christmas the house was awash with all of their presents. No matter how many times I told them that the dog would get anything they left lying around, they consistently ignored me. That's what parents are for, I understand - being ignored.
I fear the little darlings got their come-uppance as on Sunday afternoon our mutley got hold of, and ate, a bus-full of little Sylvanian Family characters. We are not quite sure of the total body-count as no one seems to know how many of them were in the bus (No passenger log. Tut tut). But we do know that we are short of a head, an arm and a leg.
The girls are distraught. The dog is uncomforable. Him Indoors and I are thanking our lucky stars that we have pet insurance and hoping that the above items work their way through by natural means!

Land Grab

There is a land grab underway at the lottie.

I don't have a mower that I can take down to the allotment and I have never had time to worry about keeping the edges of the plot neat and tidy, but I have realised that I need to be a bit sharper.

There is an incredibly robust weed which spreads really quickly, and is well established along the grass paths. Surveying my plot compared to the very neat one next door I realised that the combined effect of the week and the rapidly encroaching grass down either side is costing me about a foot of planting space at the end of each row.

Thus, one of my Winter jobs has been to tidy things up and attempt to achieve something broadly resembling a neat edge, to reclaim the space which would otherwise be lost. The edge is properly marked with posts and line. I am roughly turning the soil over and I hope that some hard winter frosts will do the rest for me. With little to do over the winter in the growing department, I may even get it looking like a proper allotment!

In the Bleak Mid-Winter

Just in case anyone is suffering from the Winter Blues, here is a high-summer photo. Poppies against a pale blue sky. Just to cheer you up. Why not?

I stopped on my way to work one morning in the summer to take this photo. The poppies had been taking my breath away each morning as I passed. This photo does not do justice to the vastness of the field and the huge expanse of colour. But in the depths of January it has to be good for the soul.

Just when you thought it was time for a rest

Just when you thought it was time for a rest, a Gardeners' World email pops up and reminds you that there are still jobs you can be getting on with this week. So yes, I now realise that my autumn raspberry canes do, of course, need to be chopped down to ground level. At some point during his Christmas visit my Dad will remind me that yes, the apple trees need pruning (I will have the secateurs ready to put into his hands whenever he does as I am still a bit clueless about pruning).

And apparently it is time to start sowing chilli seeds. Who would have though it?

There is also the pleasure of planning for next year to look forward to, pouring over seed choices whether in catalogues or on-line.

As well as the veg, I do want to pay a little more attention to colour in my garden at home next year.

I had a look through some of the photos I have taken this year which have inspired me. Needless to say, these were not taken in my garden but at Belton House. I have some baby lavender plants on the go, however, which I hope might help me get a bit closer to this ideal next year.

There are also some work/life balance decisions to make which might leave me with less cash to splash on garden purchases, but more time to grow, nurture, watch and enjoy during 2012. Now that sounds like a plan!

Time to hang up the gardening gloves until New Year

Visits to the allotment are becoming rarer and shorter as winter gets into full swing. I made a flying visit on Monday but only managed about half an hour before my fingers turned numb and it started raining, upon which I beat a hasty retreat.

 

However, the jobs are mainly done. The perpetual spinach has continued to grow so I took a final picking of beautiful, bright green young leaves, before a further drop in temperature turns them to slime. I say "a final picking" but am wondering just how "perpetual" it is. When I dug out the roots of last year's crop in the spring the roots were immense. Would they have re-grown if I had left them? I might just experiment this year and leave them in a bit longer (with a sowing of new plants as back-up).

 

The spinach leaves I picked are tender enough to use for salad but I only seem to want warm food at the moment. They served us well in a high-speed beef and noodle stir fry on Monday night. It had to be quick: I was at Zumba until half-past seven so Monday night suppers are speedy affairs.

 

Rick Stein had a lovely series last year which featured lots of dishes from places like Thailand and Malaysia. I watched enough of them to realise that there is a Holy Trinity of flavours (fish sauce, lime juice and sugar) which will lift dishes such as this into something fabulous. Rick Stein raved about palm sugar but I never got around to buying this, and in any case we already have about 10 different kinds of sugars, honey, syrups and so on at any one time. This time I skipped the sugar altogether and opted for a spoonful of Jolly Jon's Soon-to-be-World-Famous Chilli Jam which combines a hit of chilli with the required sweetness. Fantastic and just what was needed on a cold December night.

 

So, the spinach is picked, we have white and one red cabbage remaining in the ground which can look after themselves, and there is nothing that needs to be done to the sprouts except leave them to be improved by the frosts and then pick them for Christmas. It might just about be time to hang up the gardening gloves until New Year.