There’s not a huge amount to report from the garden this month, my autumn sown seedlings are (mostly) still going strong. A few didn’t make it through the hard frosts we had in December but I was expecting that and there is plenty of time left to sow more!
The Polytunnel is almost completely ready for the season, a few anemones and ranunculus are in the ground, and I need to decide exactly which other flowers I’m going to grow in there this year. It’s
all one big learning curve and our weather is so unique up here that this year the tunnel will be very much trial and error. I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes!!
The first seeds and corms of 2023 have been sown, just ranunculus and sweet peas at the moment while we wait for the days to get a bit longer. As a general rule of thumb my mass sowing will begin around Valentine’s Day when we will have 2 hours more daylight than we currently do!!! My wee helpers have also planted the first broad beans, pea shoots and mangetout for our vegetable garden.. last year I planted them out with no protection in February and they survived weeks of freezing conditions so I’m confident they will be fine and give us a nice early harvest to enjoy while working away on the flowers.
The bulbs are tucked away in various beds and crates and will hopefully be ready to harvest around the beginning of April for my wonderful spring subscription customers. I decided to do a bit of an experiment this year and have tried my hand at forcing tulips. A planted crate of around 50 bulbs lived in our beer fridge for 14 weeks at the end of last year (much to my husbands delight!) When they were removed, just before Christmas, the shoots were around an inch tall and white but with a few weeks in the light they have greened up and are growing rapidly… they may even be ready in time for Valentine’s Day!!
The actual garden is far from being ready… but that’s a job for another month!! I hope you’re all managing through the longest, darkest year of the month… there is so much to look forward to and before we know it there will be buckets of flowers to brighten our lives!! Until next time, Kitty Rose x
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