End of the Month Review February 2012

We heard our first skylarks at the end of last week and the weather has been incredibly balmy for the time of year. The sap is rising, even if this month's photo of the garden doesn't look very different to January's. 

There is an inch or two of new growth of many of the perennials such as the Achillea and the Penstemons. The foliage on one of the Melianthus Major (Honey Bush) remains fresh and green. Normally that would have been killed off by frost. The leaves on the other more exposed plant have been desiccated. Lets hope they are both producing new shoots under their layer of mulch.  

The great spring "tidy-up" has started....Maybe that's a bit too optimistic. It is February and we are in Scotland, after all!

I also started some seed planting. All were Heirloom varieties saved from last year. Tomatoes Cyril's Choice. (I wonder who he was? some curmudgeonly old gardener, perhaps), peas Gravedigger (maybe there are a  couple of rows growing in a cemetery somewhere) and red broad bean (with the deep pink flowers)

I also planted out some onions (Centurion) and shallots (Pikant). I tend to put them into modules in the cold frame so that they can acquire roots before planting out.  I do this partly because I think it will stop the birds pulling them out but also because my mother did it before me!

There are also three or four broad beans that I rescued from the vegetable border and will get planted out with the others.

The potatoes are chitting in the "sun room". That's a bit of a misnomer as it's north facing and doesn't get much sun. We had a bit of early blight last year and have cut back this year. The varieties  of organic seed potatoes are

• Maris Bard (Very early), 

• Maris Peer (2nd early)

• Lady Balfour (main crop)

There are no Pink Fir Apples this year for the first time in ages. Truth be told I got a bit skunnered (fed up) peeling the knobbly spuds even though they are delicious in a salad.

Sometime when my back was turned or I was otherwise engaged, our various cornus grew into trees. They are now at the point where they need serious cutting back. Their growth varies tremendously. Some have a very upright habit and doesn't take up much space. Others straggle all over the place in no time and frankly have got far too big and are cramping the style of the tree paeony next to them.

Some time and pruning later (with rather blunt lopers) and I think that's a definite improvement and makes way for the new lime green growth.

I've been gradually clearing the borders of rubbish and perennial weeds and cutting back last year's growth. Then it gets a thick layer with some of our home made compost. How thick depends on how much compost we have. Yearly dilemma with the precious crumbly stuff. Spread it thick on two thirds of the garden or thin on all of it? I usually opt for the former.

 

This is one of the borders that have been done. P have also added some more trellis (or in our case reinforcing mesh) to give us a bit more height for our ever expanding climbers. It has been very securely fixed for such rampant growers as the Rambling rose "Seagull" and the Clematis Alpina "Constance" which is disappearing over the wall.

And then there's the midden - the garden shed in all it's glory. I should have cleared it before doing anything else. I seem to spend a lot of time wading in looking for things.  I noted in passing that Elaine at Rosebank Ramblings  seemed to be in the same position with her greenhouse. But Elaine has tidied hers up! I partly put up the photos on this post to shame me into doing something about it.

Something seems to have happened...
With a little help from P and a few hours work it now looks like this. Am I sounding a bit smug?
Unfortunately despite my good intentions the tidiness won't last long. I'm confidant that I'm not the only gardener with a shed that gets messier and messier as the garden gets busier and busier.

All the hoses and the watering cans are out and ready to be put to use. I like a bit of regimentation. The one on the red chair is quite old and came from Steptoes Yard a treasure trove for lovers of old garden implements.

 
And lastly, what do you think of this?  June flowering Ceanothus "Concha" - flowering in February. How weird is that? To see what is happening in other gardens pop over to Helen's Blog at the Patient Gardener