Well a longer than intended break from the blog - brought about by an extreme bout of laziness compounded by a horrible cold and the damp claggy weather of late. Nevertheless there are things to be done just before Spring kicks off. First off I completed the annual spiking of the lawn with my new garden fork (the old one broken moving a bush a month ago). What benefit spiking actually brings to the lawn I know not. I have however perfected a smooth technique which goes stab lawn with fork 12 inched from the last set of holes, stand on fork until sunk and can go no further (stones can upset this bit), wobble fork back and forward to loosen it up then heave it out with a kind of weightlifter jerk.
It bloody hurts doing it as I get the fork all the way down to the clay about 10" below the surface where it then appears to be gripped by the clay substrate and requires a great deal of to-ing and fro-ing of the fork to get it out again. This is however preferable to waiting until its drier as this really jars the bones and you cant get the fork in more than 3 or 4 inches.
What I think it does it is it loosens up some of the well trodden areas which get compacted, lets warm spring air into the roots, helps drainage a little and the fork holes fill up with loose soil sand and compost encouraging some lateral root growth. I also threw on the first batch of lawn fertilizer and swept over a little mixed sand and compost mix that passes for a lawn dressing. Anyway its done - shortly after some rain which made it soft enough to get the fork in - and out - and its a job that I dont have to do for another 12 months. I think this is my version of a spring fertilitiy sacrrfice - it takes a few hours and costs me a sore back, stiff arms and a few blisters. My suffering is a sacrifice to the garden gods in return for a decent lawn.
The second thing I have done since my last post is the erection of the Xmas present - the plastic green house. I am delighted with this. Its cheap, its small and it fits nicely out of sight behind a shed but is south facing and gets loads of warmth and light. The conservatory has been returned to being a conservatory and the fuchsia and geranium cutting forest which are now a12-18" high have a new home. The Other Half did the actual building of the metal frame - she loves puzzles and flat pack furniture puzzles the hell out of me. While she did that I did a pot audit - deciding what to keep ( I tend to keep all pots so now have a stack about a meter high), what had frozen and broken over winter and what needed emptying of old plants and compost from autumn.. In the process I decided to finally plumb in the water-but next to a main drainpipe (had it for 2 years), moved the large potted conifer that was in the way and then replanted that in the ground after I broke the very large terracotta pot a it was in and couldn't find anything else big enough for it. This required a shifting of various other plants and potted bamboos and forced me finally to say arriverderci to a couple of poorish caryopteris thugs which I had kept on all last year but was unable to keep them compact without them becoming woody and tired. By the time this was done - green house was assembled, then moved, dressed with plastic cover and then weighted down with a couple of paving slabs. Geraniums and Fuchsias moved in.
Today they were joined by my half price seeds (bought in January fro £8 instead of ordering £80 worth of mail order seedlings) which have been sown into seed trays with potting compost and vermiculite - the first time I have used this so we will see if it makes a difference. (ie will anything germinate and grow?) Seeds sown are rudbeckia, mimulus, 2 types of lobelia, viola, pansy, petunia, nemesia, mesanbryanthemum, antirhinums and oddly a pack of mixed cactus seed bought on a whim.
But let me say this - what a rip off seed packets are. The petunia seeds came in a a plastic phial and there were precisely 12 of them. The only packet with a good shake of seeds were the antirhinums. The rest were truly pathetic with seeds being in the 20's or 30's so not the in the hundreds I was expecting. I can only assume seed suppliers either reckon I am a world class horticulturalist and don't need that many or they have decreased the amount of seed drastically to keep them solvent. This is going to have to be much less hit and miss than I am used to, to be successful.
I have a feeling I would be better of with plug plants and am sorely tempted to go back to the catalogues again - except I don't want 50 of everything. I'll see how the seeds turn out first but honestly I am not impressed.
Observations in the garden this week - crocuses and snow drops in bloom for 2/3 weeks.No daffodils in bloom yet, Tulips now 3/4 inches, grass beginning to grow, hydrangeas beginning to leaf. FIRST WEEDS APPEAR. Cat has caught 3 mice. Anti-Dog fence and sticks now working. Saw our resident robbin for the first time this year.
Lastly Purchases since the last blog - new fork £17 from B&Q; nice little lemon tree (with 3 lemons! )£7 Aldi; tray and 26 seed pots - Aldi £3.99; wind chime thing from B&Q - £12; half price pot of Hostas from Garden Centre £2; 2 small sacks of potting compost £4 Garden Centre; Vemiculite £2.99 Garden Centre; 3-for-2 non peat multipurpose potting compost B&Q £5.99;
