I can’t say I like anything at all about the dark drab dull winter months, I am very much a summer person and absolutely love the sunshine on my face while gardening, however having said that! it is now well over a month from the shortest day and each day has a little more light to it so I will soon be able to visit the allotment during week days once again after work to start the preparation work.
There are still a few goodies left down the allotment, a row of leeks, parsnips and turnips, all good for a warming winter stew but soon I will once again start digging it over from one end to the other a few rows at a time until I have that satisfaction of looking over a freshly dug weed free allotment, that will not last for long though, potato sets are already on sale and first of all (March/April) the early spuds will be going in, in fact as it is an area that does suffer from blight I decided last year to only grow earlies to beat the blight and was I glad that I took that decision! with it being the wettest summer for a very long time and with even the undercover tomato’s down there being affected it turned out to be really good move which I am also going to do again this year.
Goodies from the allotment
On the home front the disappearance of the snow that fell during early January has revealed Snowdrops and Aconites not just poking up but flowering! After their shoots must have been frozen for a week or so, then again they do say that a layer of snow also provides some insulation and I would think that must have been the case here.
A witch hazel Hamamelis × intermedia ‘Jelena’ has been flowering since Christmas and when I thought about capturing it for the blog it was getting a bit dusky but with the flash and the darkish background I think it has come out pretty well also the detail in the flowers appears to be more enhanced.
Witch Hazel ‘Jelena’ – still going strong
A few mistletoe berries that I pressed on to the bark of apple trees in my garden have been growing slowly, last year they just put out a couple of green shoots that dug in to the bark but I had a look the other day and they are definitely putting on proper growth now!
Mistletoe on my apple tree
Things are moving! Spring is around the corner, now where is my warm sunshine!
I am 56 yrs young, and have been married to Joy for over 35 years, We have 2 children and 3 grandchildren, and have an allotment on the Notts/Derbys border. I am RHS trained to level 2 and have also passed a course in herbalism, I have had the allotment for about 20 years, that is mainly for the veg growing, whereas at home I grow fruit and have a love of anything big leaved, exotic-y looking, jungly type plants. I also help run a gardening forum at garden-friends.co.uk.
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