My gardening view at the moment is all about spring flowers and signs of new growth. All over the garden there are spots of colour from primroses, crocus and hellebores with the daffodils now adding to the show.
The poor weather recently means I’m behind on weeding the veg beds and getting them ready for the new season. It’ll get done eventually.
The bulbs under the old apple tree are now in full flower and are really brightening the gardening view from the potting shed. I was relieved to see those I planted in the autumn had escaped the attentions of the squirrel, which has instead been digging up the pots.
For the first time in a few years, Narcissus ‘February Silver’ (pictured at top of post) lived up to its name and actually flowered in the correct month. Usually, it’s the first few days of March before it appears.
The hellebores are magnificent and I’ve been identifying gaps where I could put more. A lot are in the sloping border behind the pond and I’ve decided the display of those and the crocus needs to be increased.
I did manage to get some shallots in and they are growing well. Less happy are the red onion sets I planted and it’s touch and go as to whether they will come to anything.
There are also signs of life in the rhubarb bed although attempts to force one crown are not faring well as the various storms keep blowing the old dustbin off the plant.
The potting shed is home to the pelargoniums – some are insisting on flowering despite being cut back in the autumn. The dahlias are also over-wintering in there. One of my next jobs will be to pot them up into fresh compost.
The biggest development in the garden over the past few weeks has been the transformation of what has always been one of the trickiest areas to garden.
This very steep slope was originally planted up with ground cover things as we couldn’t afford to have it landscaped, a solution that worked well for the first 10 years or so. However, the prostrate ceaonthus succumbed to a harsh winter and the vinca took over, smothering the cotoneaster. Bindweed was a major problem and so we decided it was time to radically change the area.
I’ve often moaned about my sandy soil and I have good reason. This is the structure when the slope was dug out. As you can see, there’s very little topsoil over building quality sand – the landscapers actually used it rather than buying sand in.
That much sand in the soil has made the slope pretty unstable and very difficult to get up. I’ve often though crampons would have helped when weeding.
This is the finished result. We decided to use the slope to create a seating area – not that I sit down very often in the garden! It’s a spot that catches the sun for most of the day and has good views out to the Cotswolds. Adding a deck has also cut down on the amount of ground to be gardened.
Because topsoil has been brought in I’ve suddenly got soil that has much more substance – there have even been puddles in the recent rain!
So, what to plant? There’s still quite a lot of bindweed root in one area so I’m tempted to put just annuals in that bed while I tackle it. For the rest, I’m still trying to decide. Suggestions welcome.
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