Friday, January 26

New beginnings

Once that first seed order appears at the doorway it seems that the new growing season is steadily starting to nudge its way to the forefront of our minds.

That event occurred last week when our main seed order was delivered.
A few more seeds are likely to follow as we always seem to think of something else at a later date, in fact there are already things on my subsidiary list.

This weekend one of our local garden centres will be holding their mini potato day which we hope to visit. It's an opportunity to buy individual seed potatoes which we can trial as potential new varieties.

We were intending to head for the plot on Tuesday but instead we decided to do some work in the garden.

Martyn headed into the greenhouse to start on some general tidying up.

My job was to cut back the perennials in the front garden bed.
I always wait until the are signs of the bulbs pushing through before doing this. 

I had noticed plenty of emerging shoots and so the time was right to give them some breathing space.
The previous weekend I had cut back the leaves of the hellebores in our shady bed .

The leaves from the magnolia will be left to decay naturally.

Not only have the hellebores started to flower but clumps of snowdrops were starting to show buds and would have been lost beneath the leaf cover.
In other parts of the garden there is lots more evidence that the plants are itching to grow. In addition to the above, I spotted Dutch and miniature irises, crocuses and anemone de caen

Bulbs are not the only things to start to be impatient to shine. The sarcococca in a tub on the patio is in full flower.
We now need a still and sunny day so we can appreciate its perfume.

18 comments:

  1. Wow, that's a lot of seeds! Can't you get one of the seed companies to sponsor you, in return for a few blogposts?

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    1. A group of us buy seeds from Kings as an allotment group and get a good discount, Mark

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  2. Tidying up beds is really quite satisfying!

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    1. It is, Belinda now we need to be able to get out and do some more.

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  3. I literally gasped when I saw that first photo - you raided that garden centre! Like Supermarket Sweep - hahaha. How wonderfully exciting. Great work on those beds, you found so much treasure! xx

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    1. The joys of online shopping, Carrie. It’s great to see the bulbs pushing through.

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  4. Your post is like a ray of sunshine to those of us still in the depths of winter. :)

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    1. WE had a bit of sunshine today pals but we are not out of the woods as far as winter is concerned, It often lulls us in to a false sense of security and then comes back to bite us,

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  5. I thought I got carried away with my seed orders but you've outdone me. Ah, but as you said, there's always something to add and with my long growing season there's always unanticipated gaps in the garden that need filling. Wow. I didn't realized that you had such a roomy greenhouse, it's wonderful!

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    1. The greenhouse does get very full, Michelle. We need it for many things that you can grow outside.

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  6. Oh all those packets hold so much promise Sue - exciting times ahead. I wonder if you have had a whiff of scent from the sarcococca yet.

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    1. The sarcococca scent is apparent at fairly close quarters, Anna. We need a still sunny day for it to really pump it out.

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  7. Spring has sprung in your part of the world! Lovely seeing those bulbs, you are ahead of me. What a fine array of seeds. You'll have your work cut out sowing all those, but then again, you do it every year.xxx

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    1. It may be just a blip, Dina we are not out of the woods just yet

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  8. I love the small Iris Sue, ours are still hiding. What is the variety of Christmas Box with those lovely two coloured flowers?

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    1. There are still more irises to come Brian unless they have disappeared altogether. The plant is sarcococca hookeriana var. digyna Purple Stem

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  9. How nice to see spring flowers!
    Greetings

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