Forecast for the coming week looks favourable, cloudy with sunny spells on Tuesday and Thursday and Friday with temperatures between 1-9C degrees and moderate easterly winds. The coldest nights are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
I shall start with Hairy Bittercress, a weed that is now in seed and ready to pop and send its seed flying, so I have gone round and round the garden looking for the little dears and pulling them out and putting them in the garden bin. It is amazing how they keep appearing from one to many, many more!
The next two weeks are still so busy with pruning back Hydrangeas, Fuchsia and Buddleias but only after the cold nights of this week. Also to top the lawn on the highest setting. The time to plant summer flowering bulbs like Gladioli into their position is due too.
We have a Bay tree in a big pot which has been looking good but it has not been given any attention and it will need some topdressing so I will remove the top 5cm of old compost and replace with new. Early summer I will water the tree with a soluble feed solution.
Now is the time we sow our outdoor vegetable seeds into the veg beds eg. Carrots, Parsnips, Peas and Mangetout and plant the Potatoes and Onion sets. The Onion sets we will cover with netting until the roots have taken hold and the pigeons can not pull them out!
Now is a good time to repot house plants in bigger pots and new multi-purpose compost. Again it is a good time to sow annuals, we are trying to establish a flower meadow in the young woodland, Poppy and Calendula seeds will be scattered in other areas.
Lastly all our vegetable seeds which have germinated will need to be pricked out and put individually into small pots which will now be kept in the tunnel on a table so the mice cannot get at them and have a feast as they did last year!!!
As you readers can gather there will be plenty to occupy us in the next two weeks but I will make sure I wander round our garden every day and appreciate nature’s beauty in the bird song and spring flowers of Primulas and Tulips and the scent of Narcissi.
