March Blog
This year seems to be flying by, probably because we are able to do so much more. The weather has got colder than we had been used to in February. We have had some rain at last, not enough but at least we got some, Bulbarrow Hill splits the weather, at times we can watch it going down the valley but we stay dry and we often see the rain storms going along the coast which can be entertaining especially if they have lots of lightening.
Today, the 7th, I saw the first frogspawn. We have been seeing them in the garden heading towards the lake and have heard some calling but they aren’t in full song yet. The toads seem to come about a week or so later and their spawn is much harder to spot being long thin strings which are hidden in the reeds. Every year we got more and more frog and toad Spawn as those bred in the lake become old enough to breed.
The greenhouse is working hard, apart from the geraniums overwintering and the cannas it is now filling up with seed trays which are beginning to germinate. So far the beefsteak tomatoes are doing well and the outdoor cucumbers are just beginning to pop their heads up. The Royal Horticultural Society has a seed scheme for members who can choose 14 packets of seed, which come from the RHS gardens, for free and only have to pay for the postage. Finding tall plants rather than shrubs is more difficult than the mid range ones, so I chose seeds of perennials that were all 1.5 metres and taller. I want tall plants for the gravel garden which has a totally different feel to the rest of the garden.
The vegetable garden continues to supply us with leeks, swiss chard, kale and cabbage. The onion and garlic sets are all doing well and looking very healthy. The broad beans in the greenhouse are large enough to plant out but I will wait for another week for the cold wind to go away, they need to acclimatise and move out into the little cooler greenhouse before they are ready to plant out.
The spring flowers are responding to the sunshine and warmer weather, spring is such a gorgeous joyful season, and as the days get longer and the sun gets warmer the plants and trees take off and give us a beautiful display.