I haven't anything posted in months but I have been working in the garden. I always try to get as much in the ground in autumn as possible so I have something to be tinkering with over winter. From November to March, I've been mulling over my broad beans which were getting leggy in the cold frame (it's been milder than usual), gazing at my garlic (three varieties which I planted in containers and a raised bed) and picking at my purple sprouting broccoli.
I ended up planting out the broad beans in January after the extreme wet weather had eased off a while. It was a risk at that time of year but they are looking fairly healthy, if a bit twisted. Even though the variety is dwarf, they need some support so I've built simple tepees with bamboo and twine.
We have been eating purple sprouting brocolli (PSB) with a few weeks now. The crop isn't as good as last year but I think that was down to me being late moving them from pot to ground. Apart from one towering plant, the rest are on the small side. I think they also benefit from a bit of frost and the winter was quite mild and wet. As you get three cuts per plant, there is still plenty fruit to come. I think PSB is the staple plant to include in your garden plan and I'll be sowing my seeds for next years crop very soon. Picture below shows some that I'll need to cut very soon as it looks like it is starting to go to flower.
Back in October I planted some garlic (softneck variety Solent Wight) in window boxes and this will be eaten young and green. This week I sprinkled some spring onion seeds on the surface and watered in so hopefully they will happily grow around the garlic.
My main garlic crop has been in a raised bed since October, a mix of Solent (single layer on the left) and Lautrec (hardneck). The stem of the Solent is noticeably thicker than the plants of the same variety that are in the window boxes. It's interesting to see the differences in results between various settings. I'm not 100% but I may have added a layer of seaweed to this bed back in the autumn, which would have given the plants a boost. Again I have sprinkled some spring onion seeds on the surface this week. The third variety of garlic, early Purple Wright, is in other beds around the garden.
The first direct sown seeds of spring were planted yesterday - two rows of beetroot, one Bolthardy and the other Chiogga. In my efforts to mix vegetables and flowers, nasturtiums will go in between the rows. This bed got a nice treatment of a thick layer of seaweed in Autumn plus some garden compost and the soil is looking really well.
Dormant flowers are starting to revive and I'm hoping for some surprises. Below is some 'Braunherz' which will spread its luscious thick purple leaves to give ground cover.
Last year I planted lupins from seed and got bountiful foliage but being a biannual, no flowers. This year the foliage is coming back beautifully and hopefully come May I'll have towering explosions of colourful flower. The seeds were mixed so what emerges will be a surprise. I can take basal cuttings now so hopefully I'll be able to successfully multiply the plants, and give some for gifts.
My pansies were ravished by slugs this year so I was delighted to get a photo of this perfect flower before she is nibbled away to nothing.
Pea seeds are swelling and starting to sprout. Yesterday I planted marigolds in the remaining cells. The marigolds, which attract the beneficial hoverfly, will be inter-planted among the vegetables.
And to finish, a picture of my Bowles's Mauve wallflowers which have just started their flowering season but have always had a bloom or two at all times over winter. It's a perrenial plant that has a tendency to get leggy so after the flower stalk finishes blooming, cut it back down at the base. This is another plant that I'll be taking cuttings of soon. It makes a wonderful fragranced cut flower.
Till next time.
