SPRING JOBS

Photo: Some old perennials are destined for the compost bin.

I’ve wanted to do an article on Hydroponics for the last few weeks. This is the art of growing plants without the use of soil. The thing is that there is just too much going on in the garden to fit it in. There have been so many sunny days over the past two weeks that I seem to spend all the daylight hours outside doing one thing or another. Hydroponics will have to wait…

I’ve set up wire netting for the peas in new raised beds that have been built in the back garden as part of my expansion plan for this year; it’s left over chicken wire that I used when making the run for the rabbit. It’s just the right height at one metre to allow the plants to grow and keep the pods off the ground so the pesky slugs don’t get them. I’ve created some very sturdy (I hope) structures for runner beans, broad beans and mange tout. They are made from sturdy hazel rods and reach up to about three metres high (I’m an optimist when it comes to how high the plants will grow). It makes them very handy when collecting the pods though, as I can walk inside the wigwam. These cover the paths in between the raised beds so they take up the minimum amount of room. My carrot seeds are planted and onion sets are firmly pushed into place. I am waiting a week or two yet to put the spuds out as the frosts are still quite bad and the seed potatoes haven’t really “chitted” as much as I would like. The shoots need to grow a centimetre or two before they are ready.

Jobs to do in the garden.

I find gardening very therapeutic, but for some reason I have never come to terms with weeding. Maybe I haven’t learnt how to be patient enough to bend on my knees for hours picking away at a few inches of soil, pulling up the roots of creeping buttercup. That’s why I mulch heavily with anything I can get my hands on. Luckily, Julie actually likes this time consuming job, which is just as well as a majority of plants in the garden would also be under two feet of mushroom compost. I tend to give up on small plants when they get swamped by weeds and bury the whole lot. This is where Julie saves the day. She has been patiently digging out alpine strawberries in a bed that is full of couch grass. Polyanthus are also being saved as well as snowdrops. If you have snowdrops in the garden and want to split them, now is a good time while they are “in the green” in other words there’s not much point trying to move them when the leaves have died down as you won’t be able to remember where they are planted. When these are taken out its mulching time!


We have some other beds that are also in need of a bit of patient work. Some perennials in the front garden really need digging up and dividing as they have spread too much and are cramping the style of other plants. If the middle bit of the plant is dead then it is best to introduce it to the compost heap. The new growth on the outside can be planted in to their new spot.





Horticutural.