February 2010 in the Garden

The only flowers out as yet are the brave snowdrops and winter aconites adding a sunny yellow to the woodland area.  Also a few Hellebores are pushing through.  When the bulbs come through remember to mark clumps that need splitting up so you know where they are for later. 

This time last year the Blackthorn was in flower and looking lovely in the hedgerows.  We have just come back from Cornwall where the countryside looked very dull without the usual early spring flowers.  I did notice that the daffodil fields had been covered in rows of polythene to force the flowers out and protect them from the cold.  We could have bought bunches of daffodils at the side of the road but they were still in tight bud with just a tiny bit of petal showing.

Looking out of the window here the garden is still in a very sad state and much too wet to do anything.  As soon as things improve work can begin with pruning the fruit trees but not the stone fruit like plums and cherries. The pepper, aubergine, chilli and tomato seed can be sown any time from now on, germinating the seed on a window ledge or in a propagator.  Bear in mind the seedlings will need to be potted on and kept somewhere warm after only a few weeks.  I recommend Simpson’s seeds for those crops, they have a seed list on their website.   Do check through your seed packets and throw out anything really old.  I fed my old seeds to the birds.  Bean and pea seed will last for many years so keep those.

It’s time to order or buy your potatoes.  This year we are again growing Charlottes, they are second earlies but we use them as earlies.  They were a great success last year, being good for boiling and salad.  They have a good flavour and are very popular.  Our main crop is going to be Sarpo Mira a good all rounder.  It has excellent blight resistance. This variety is  ideal for boiling, baking and roasting.  Anytime now the potatoes can be put into lidless egg boxes or trays in a cool bright place to chit them for planting later, doing this will bring forth nice dark green shoots.

For interest the garden belonging to Olive Mason called Dial Park will be open under the National Garden Scheme (N.G.S.) on Wed and Thurs17th & 18th February between 11am and 4pm. Olive has a wonderful display of many varieties of snowdrops and some other interesting early spring bulbs.