How is it March already! I am not complaining though, March brings promise of better days coming with some sunshine and aren’t we ready for it? However, it is probably more likely to rain but March coming means the garden is starting to come to life. That doesn’t mean the winds are not still biting and the frosts are still an issue.

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”

Charles Dickens, Great expectations

These are the days where you must dress for all seasons and eventualities…shorts? t-shirts? jumpers? trousers? flip flops? wellies? jacket? raincoat? hat? umbrella? …who knows how to dress in these early days of March?

Annoying But Necessary Jobs…

We have been doing some of the more heavier jobs of late. I say ‘we’, of course I mean Darren but I assisted!

After taking down the front hedge which was dying, it has now been chibbled down to smaller bitesize chunks and gone in to the green bin.

We are left with an annoyingly untidy front of garden which I have yet to tackle. What to put in it’s place? Another hedge? A fence? Leave it open? The latter is not a great idea with two doggies but I quite like it open so we shall see.

In addition to the hedge there was the Apple tree that had its annual chop plus we cleared the Yuccas underneath the Magnolia Tree.

This was way too much, even for two green bins so there is still more to do on that.

I don’t know about you but aside from paying for my second green bin, we will, from this April be paying for our green waste to be taken away in the bins so my next job is to build myself another compost bin. Does anyone else have this in their area?

I refuse to pay anymore for it so it makes sense to just use it for my own purposes. As soon as the clearing process has finished, a pallet compost bin shall be formed.

Let’s Get To The Good Bit!

I am so behind on my seed sowing but that is all going to change this week. On the upside, the Sweet Peas I sowed a couple of weeks ago are starting to show themselves.

A World Of Seeds

This is my spreadsheet I made that I am working from. I find it helps to have all the information in one place, rather than individual seed packets. And yes, these are all the seeds I have in my possession to sow for this year. Will I sow all of them? Maybe.

There is an awful lot of Feb sowed flowers there but I am not stressing over it, they will go in this week and all will be fine. I previously said I took part in a Seed to Vase in 12 Weeks Challenge workshop last month.

It’s been hard waiting to put them in but Roz said not till the end of February for best results and yes, I know, I’m a few days past that but patience is a virtue and all that.

I will get going and see how it goes, as this is my first year of sowing anything other than Poppy, Lupin and Foxglove seeds from my own garden.

I am excited to see what grows and can become a yearly thing and those that don’t, or are too fiddly, they may not make a return. I don’t like to make it too difficult for myself.

Not Just Flowers

In addition to flower seeds, I also have tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, pumpkins, broccoli and Brussel sprouts to name but a few.

I feel I’m about to start to get busy (busier than usual).

In The Garden

So as I said, everything is starting to come alive in the garden.

Snowdrops, Pansies and Hellebores are the colour in my front garden. Elsewhere there is the hint of what is to come.

We have the emergence of Lupins with their glorious star shaped leaves catching the rain in them, Tulip bulbs starting to poke their heads above ground, Hydrangeas starting to sprout bright green leaves and my Blueberry bushes are waking up.

In The Greenhouse

The greenhouse is in need of a clear out, that will be (another) job for this week, however, we have many things already going on in there.

Firstly I have my Hydrangea cuttings which probably need potting on now but still going strong, along with Rose cuttings and Dogwood cuttings. Then my Bergamot plugs.

If you remember I bought some Silk Tree babies last year from Gardeners’ World Live. They almost completely shed over the winter but we have new growth coming back which I am pleased to see.

Inside Our House

The only thing to report from my lounge windowsill are my first and second early potatoes busy chitting away waiting to be planted. I have bought a couple of coffee bean sacks to grow them in. I thought they were slightly different and opened up my bigger tubs for something else.

I explained all things potato in last year’s blog, ‘One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four…’.

These look just about ready, you want your shoots to be about 1/2″ to 1″ in length.

I didn’t have much luck last year with my late crop but I have two varieties here for first and second early crops so should be ready around May time. Mine are just about ready to plant so watch out for those frosts cos here goes nothing…

And Finally, In Other News This Week…

You may or may not have noticed the website has had a bit of a revamp this week. It’s a work in progress so bear with me, I’m not a technophobe by any means but I don’t always know what I’m doing…

I thought I would share with you that we had an unusual visitor to the garden this week. Unusual for us that is, caused a momentary stir of excitement…

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A post shared by Lucie Wellburn (@lucieinthewillows)