When the hounds of spring are on winter's traces…...

[echt]

I realise it's later in the UK, but couldn't wait to start a new thread. If another title had been agreed, just tell me and I'll have this removed.

Other than that, seek out those deckchairs from the shed, check them for spiders and get nattering about the spring's promise.

ppeat beautiful house, interesting caves. :)

It's a plan!

ppeat what a gorgeous house! No wonder you don't want to leave

Has anyone tried growing carrots in pots? I was watching Nigel Slater the other day and he had some in pots. I was thinking that the cats would be less likely to dig in the pot than they are in the veg patch...

I tried growing round carrots (probably Parmex) in big pots and got a delicious but very meagre crop.

It was a cold but sunny day today. I potted up a camellia, and hellebores, and pruned the roses and rearranged the pots on the front patio and renewed the compost in many of them. As there turned out to be nearly 30 of these, this was no small task. At least all the winter debris is cleared out of every cranny- for now, anyway!

That's a lot of pots. I bet your patio looks nice now.

I spent three hours digging manure into the short arm of the Showstopper Border.

Yes, I cant help feeling that even though this is a cold February, it is time to get on and put the spring plant food on the beds as you have been doing rhubarb. I also think I must get on and start sowing seeds. That said, spring is later this year than last year.
1st week in Feb is usually the time I repaint the wooden garden furniture and fencing but its been so cold and frosty here I might wait.

Has anyone got a good herb garden plan? What goes best next to what?

Here is what I am going to be doing today

How I have compost envy and compost guilt. I never turn mine - it seems very difficult in a dalek - and only dig it out every few years. It does seem to be rotting down very quickly at the moment, perhaps because it's had so many shredded cardboard boxes added to it.

Me too Maud: if I were at home all day, and a gardener to help, I might get a proper compost system going, but as it is my dalek bins produce compost eventually, with little or no work from me. I watched that video and was impressed at how quickly he produced compost - but had understood before that you should aim for 50:50 green and brown whereas he said it's 1:3 or 4. Also I understood compost is really better for soil improvement than food as it contains few nutrients (surely true if it's mostly paper). Am confused...

Can I have some advice on hazel wigwams for clematis a la Monty? I've tracked down a local hazel pole source, and he's asked how tall and what diameter I want! I have no clue - has anyone any ideas? Monty's wigwams seem tall -maybe 7' sticking out of the ground, and maybe 2" diameter - what do you think? How much should stick into the ground?

Yes, it did look time-consuming and probably unmanageable if you can't do heavy lifting. I shall ask DH to dig mine out soon. I'm sure you're right, Bearleigh, about its main virtue being adding fibre to the soil, rather than nutrients, but anything that opens up the structure of the soil is fine by me.

I have just been outside for a quick potter and attempt to cut the dead fairy lights out of the apple tree. I also took a photo for funnyperson, as promised, of my giant lily pot. I'll try to upload it ...

Lovely pots there Maud, I do like a weathered pot. I'm feeling rather jealous that Countess has hyacinths as I just have tiny hyacinth shoots.

Really pleased to hear job going well NAAN. Mr SPT has enjoyed his first few days too.

Bearleigh I am far from an expert on Clematis wigwams but did get Hazel poles for my beans at the allotment which I brought back here 8 think they were about 8 feet long and I would aim to bury a couple of foot but in reality they were only in about a foot. Think they were an inch or so thick. Guess a bit thicker would be good ? Mine were just advertised as bean poles so we didn't have the size discussion !

My compost bins need emptying but haven't got round to it yet . My Antirhinum seeds have just germinated and make me smile when I see them on the window sill.

I think I am just a couple of days away from my first open daffodil and the Graham Thomas looks like it is going to produce the first rose of 2015 if the bud doesn't get ruined by frost or rain.

Yes, I like weathered (and really dislike the bright orange of new pots) but I don't like green algae and will give that one a scrub when the weather's warmer. I also plan to move it. When the lily bulbs arrive I'm going to have a rethink about what goes where.

Oh and I have nothing to suggest about wigwams, other than Monty's always look delightful and so much better than I've ever achieved with bamboo.

Lovely pots Maud. I rather like the green algae.

More digging for me today. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now - I reckon one more day of digging then I'll be able to finish the planting. Then it will all need Strulching.

After that my client wants me to select and plant rhododendrons for along her driveway. That will be fun.

Wigwams - yes I reckon 7 feet tall is about right. You could look up which clematis you are intending to grow up it and see what its mature height is.

My hyacinths were meant to flower for Christmas so, you know, only 6 weeks late!

I had a lovely hour weeding in the sunshine today

Spent a good hour hacking down a winter jasmine. 12 foot tall by 6 foot round. The previous owners just didn't prune anything (hence 30 mins calming a spring flowering viburnum...)

Nothing was pruned here either. Or possibly it was very skilfully minimal pruning to keep the overgrown vibe.

I think you are about 6 weeks ahead of me Countess ! That is certainly an impressive sized winter jasmine DidIreally. There's one here which was planted before we came 12 years ago and it's still fairly compact with just a few flowers each year. I think that is fairly unusual for Jasmine, guess it doesn't like the spot.

I like the algae too Maud. I've decided I shall bring Dorset Apple Cake for our Charabanc tour. Rhubarb you sound like you are gettjng very fit with all this digging !

It occurred to me earlier that we are on a countdown to Monty returning to our screens next month.

That is a very fine pot maud I like the weathered look . I believe one can achieve a similar effect with brushed on yoghurt
I found a local garden centre I had never been to before which is a supplier of Whichford pots and also Apta pots and some Yorkshire pots and some were on special offer so I bought some pots today! Saved myself a lot of postage.
Deep pink hellebores, some oregano, thyme and mint, and some cheery primroses, as well as a couple of BOGOF Sarah Raven seed collections(salads etc) and seeds for deep maroon poppies fell into the basket on the way to the checkout.

The compost is all out of the compost heap but not yet fully turned. There is so much to do before spring arrives. I cant help feeling I ought to be sowing seeds now and not waiting.

That sounds like a very enjoyable trip to the garden centre, funnyperson.

Hi all thank you for your kind comments!! Maud i was literally over for GD's birthday so am back now! Funny thanks for that link on compost ( I love the way she pronounced it)! It was useful.

It would be a rather long charabanc trip from England though! The high speed train takes at least 6 to 7 hours!

While feeding the birds just now I have just watered my sad hellebores, even though it's very cold rain water, they've perked up already. I like having them right in front of the kitchen door.

I'll post another pic because at last we have ferns growing in and on the caves they have just reproduced from the sad 2 or 3 single ones that were there 4 years or so after we moved!

ferns and hellebores go really well together
blissful day today- sunny and mild and perfect for planting and pruning and pottering about.
I have rediscovered my hoe: it is so much easier to ease out and gather up winter debris with it from among the plants compared to my usual hands and knees method,
I've uncovered little shoots coming through- remember that moment in the 'Secret Garden' when Dickon shows Mary the growing bulbs, and they go round the garden and it's 'wick' meaning growing ....like that- and there are 2 robins paired already in the garden, and blue tits, and all the birds definitely think spring is on its way!
I'm trying not to think of Baroness Vadera's 'green shoots of recovery' so I'm putting off opening the post and doing paper work till the sun sets though I have done the laundry.
I pruned the buddleia peacock: I think this year the shape will begin to really show.

Buddleia peacock sounds FAB!

I was out in the garden at 9.30 but my hands froze so I came back in. Now I'm going to get off the laptop and go back out