With Care They Will All Come Up
THE VILLAGE GARDENER
With Care They Will All Come Up
Keen gardeners will have the windowsills covered in propagators and pots with plastic bags over them. These will be full of tomato, sweet pea, leek and calendula seeds. Hopefully with a bit of care they will all come up. The ones that survive the grandchildren poking their mitts into the soil, looking impatiently for signs of growth, should be ready to go into a cold frame in March. Try, if you have room, to spread the seed planting out over a couple of weeks or more to give you a longer flowering season.
To get a decent display from snowdrops you need to buy them in the green during February and March and plant them as soon as they arrive, you will then have a good chance of a tidy display next year. Planting just the bulbs when they’re available in the Autumn never gives a satisfactory outcome. Have you remembered to plant that amaryllis you were given for Christmas? Better get on with it as the giver will want to know how it’s doing.
After an initial rough cut back last Autumn, the roses can be given a tidy up at the end of the month and into March. Cut the stems back to just above a bud and try to leave an open aspect as this will allow air to circulate, discouraging disease. Take some of the
tatty leaves off the hellebores, this will give the flowers a chance to show off. If any of the leaves have black spot, make sure you bin or burn these.
At the allotments pest control has started. Broad beans and peas that were planted in the Autumn are showing off their new foliage to the pigeons so netting or cloches are the order of the day. If using cloches make sure the ends are blocked off as the pests love nothing better than eating your veg when they can be out of the elements. Cover freshly dug soil or weed seeds will soon cover it for you. The jury’s out on whether chitting the seed potatoes before planting has enough going for it to make it worthwhile. Spread the planting time out so you have a longer harvest of new potatoes. Growing asparagus is a long-term investment, it would be worthwhile speaking to Bernard as he grows a fantastic crop.
Last Summer the folk round the village who grew grapes and figs had a remarkable year. Growing grapes is a little more work but with a bit of care the results are a joy.
Take care and happy gardening