Roseisle-News.com

Come the weekend we should see the worst of the weather of cold, windy and low temperatures during the day and the night to rise to above 10 C degrees during the day and night temperatures between 5-7 C degrees, also many more rain showers are forecast for next week.

The rain showers have been so very welcome for the garden but I can say we long for some warmer days, we certainly shall not miss the cold northerly winds, even the garden feels shrunken waiting for some warmth! This Spring has been late in coming, the Daffodils, the Narcissi, the Tulips and a few Rhododendrons are still giving their show of many colours and scent!

We took the courage to cut our Hypericum hedge, which took a battering this past winter and looked pretty dead, right back down to 5-10 cm where there are a few signs of new fresh growth of buds. The same with the Escallonias, although no sign of green shoots yet.
Other shrubs like the Abutilons, the Senecio and Bay trees look very dead indeed. More hope with the Buddleia globosa, it too has been badly hit by the cold winds earlier this year. Fortunately there are lots of new shoots at the base of the shrub and further up on some branches new growth is appearing so we will follow the dead branches from the tip back down to the new growth and cut the dead end off. This process will have to be done with our other affected shrubs which show die-back due to the harsh winter.

In the perennial borders we have to wait for the milder days to roll in, in order to cut the Penstemons, Cistus as well as the Hydrangeas and Fuchsias back to new shoots. The one thing I have been able to get on with is weeding, especially the Bittercress. There are still some plant supports to put up for the perennial Sweet Peas.

Roll on the warmer days so we can sow our root crops then follow with the planting of the young Leeks, sown earlier last month, as well as the Sweet Peas and Nasturtiums. What I never got round to do is to wash the inside of the Greenhouse and Polytunnel with soapy water, when in about 2-3 weeks time our Sweetcorn, Courgettes, Tomatoes and Butternut Squash should be big enough to be planted in the tunnel. Also the Brassicas should be ready to plant out in the vegetable bed at that time too.

Every year our garden gives us a challenge and we learn all the time but despite the miserable days we have had, the birds have been constant and reassuring with their chirping day in and day out, coming to the feed stations for their energy boost.

If everybody can see the beauty of nature, if it is a leaf, a petal, a feather or a creepy crawly and appreciates the involvement they have in our lives we get to know the reason of our being. This is why we love gardening, being with nature’s trials and tribulations. We are extremely conscious that we need to do our utmost to help and work with our environment which starts right outside our back door!

Happy Gardening everybody!

We held our first AGM online on 25th March.

Message from Kate, the chair: Thanks to everyone who came to the AGM. I apologise for forgetting at the AGM to thank Les and Gill Huyton for their great contribution to the hall and our community by funding and running Roseisle-news.com And also to say that Keiran’s Legacy will soon be providing a defibrillator for the community (at the hall, by the car park) and we can support them in the Virtual Kiltwalk registering for free using their promotional code KEIRANVIRT100.

What I can make out with the weather forecast for the next week to 10 days is that temperatures are slowly on the way up, another two to three nights of minus one C degrees and dry sunny days with temperatures from 8-10 C degrees.

Well, we certainly won’t forget this Spring in a hurry, the north winds have been bitterly cold and we hardly stepped out into our garden, only to feed the birds twice a day and give them fresh water, how they survived in the severe weather goodness only knows and they are still singing their socks off! Even the buds on the fruit trees have held back waiting for milder days and nights! It feels as if the trees are on tenterhooks waiting as long as possible before they burst open!

In the warm afternoons I have pottered round the garden, weeded the flower borders yet again mainly looking out for Hairy Bittercress and looking for signs of life in various shrubs which have been affected by the “Mini Beast from the East” earlier in the year. There are hopeful signs for the Buddleias and Hebes with buds showing further down the plant.

In a few days we shall prune back the Buddleias and Hebes. With the Hypericums, Escallonias, Olearia, Bay trees and Bamboos there will be a more cautious approach where we need to cut back into the shrubs till we come to live wood and hopefully bring the plant back into forming buds. The Dogwood and Fuchias and ornamental grasses get pruned back hard to the fresh new growth at the base of the plant.

The window sills in two rooms of our house have been holding the seedlings I sowed a few weeks earlier and they are more than ready to prick out and pot on into individual pots, but there is still time to sow annual and perennial seeds, especially single flowered ones to encourage beneficial insects, to fill any gaps in the borders.

It is wonderful to hear and see the first Bumblebees and Honey Bees flying around early flowering plants, they love the Anenome blanda and the Heathers. To keep encouraging the insect life during the Summer we have set aside two very small areas in the back lawn for a wild flower mini meadow so in a week we shall sow the meadow mix and plant annuals which are still to be pricked out and planted into that area as well.

Little jobs like deadheading the Daffodils every other day, making plant supports out of Willow sticks or hoops from stock fencing, the pond needs to have the pump reinstalled and the net taken off will keep us occupied. Then some more sowing of Lettuce seeds into modules, also hoeing the vegetable beds before sowing the Carrot, Beetroot, Peas, Beans, Turnip and Spinach seeds etc. Lastly the planting of the leeks and more onion sets all of which will get watered before and after sowing and planting!

I think my head is spinning now so I had better stop and take one day at a time and enjoy what we are doing, the rewards will follow later, we are truly lucky to love what we do in our garden.