March 6, 2010, Multiply, The gardening starts no 4

The gardening Starts No4

This weekend there was no snow, no ice, and no visitors (except the granddaughter for a couple of hours Sunday afternoon). This gave me the perfect opportunity to get out there in the garden and get on with things.

Off I went to the garden for what I suppose could be called ‘’damage assessment’’. To my amazement all the lavender pots look ok. I chopped away at the straggly bits and took off the dead bits from last year and what was left seems to be ok. The fact that I get a wafting smell of lavender when I walk past or chop bits off is a very good sign.
Many of the mint and spearmint pots look totally dead but you never know, I’ll just wait and see. The encouraging thing is that some of the pots where the herbs all look completely dead are filling up with snowdrops.

Snowdrops in bloom mean that spring has defiantly arrived in my garden. The one mint pot that looks relatively undamaged is the Chocolate Mint, so glad that one survived.
Already it’s sending out new shoots and looking good. On every tiny piece of land left untamed the spring bulbs are beginning to shoot, I just love the sight of this, it means we can say goodbye to the worst of  winter for another year.
The one area that did sustain a lot of damage is the pond area. The ice has left all those tiles I fixed around the edges last year cracked and flaking. The little pots with strawberries sitting on the edge of the pond froze and thawed so many times in the end they just cracked and fell to pieces. The pond itself is a dark and dingy mess. Somewhere in there I think I have one goldfish but the whole thing needs clearing out and replanting. The water froze and thawed so many times all the plants died and falling leaves and strong winds have left the water looking murky and black. Maybe I should look out for an inexpensive solar pump to keep the water circulating next year.
Remember how I thought my rose was killed by the sub zero temperatures? just look at it now, more pink buds than I have ever seen before. This is far from the dead rose I thought I had.
 And still the parsley thrives, through out the worst of the winter this parsley has remained fresh, green and lush, I’m sure it’s some sort of arctic species of parsley.  I told a work colleague about my thriving parsley and she said it’s an old wives tale that only wise women can grow parsley  (lol) , I thought this was funny but obviously not to be taken seriously.
I'm also very pleased with my rosemary. I have a couple of bushes but this one always looks good and you can smell it as soon as you enter the garden.
 I checked on the fruit canes I planted last October, they all seem to have survived intact and most of them have new buds already. I’m especially pleased with the quince I bought. There was a wild quince bush growing in an old allotment close to where my mother lives and years ago we used to pick the fruit and make the most delicious quince jelly. I’m really looking forward to that this year.
I finished my gardening spree by re-potting some of the tiny seedlings sown from the seeds I bought last month.
I planted onions, tomatoes, peppers, chili and salad. Some, like the peppers and chili haven’t even sprouted yet but the rocket came up within days and soon needed a better pot and a more permanent position. I cleared away all the ornamental plants from my living room window sill to make way for my ‘food’ plants. When the onions are strong enough they can go outside but the salad and tomatoes will need to stay indoors which means my window sill space is about to double up as ‘greenhouse’ space. The plan with the rocket is to keep it growing in the window sill and pick a few leaves to eat as I need them. Next to be potted and found window space will be the tomatoes, already they are sprouting into strong little seedlings.
Dealing with ‘food’ seedlings is a very strange experience and quite different to dealing with non-food plants.
The rocket seedlings are tiny and obviously very fragile but knowing they are a ‘food’ crop seems to make so much difference to the way I handle them and the way I think about them. It’s easy enough to forget to water the plants once in a while but knowing these are food makes me remember, the feeling is akin to remembering to check a cake that’s in the oven. Allowing these tiny seedlings to die would be like letting the cake burn.
It's just so nice to start gardening again

Tags: garden, pond, herbs, fruit

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delete reply sandycaar wrote on Mar 10, '10 SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAD A GRAND DAY OUT IN YOUR GARDEN, OVERALL SOUNDS LIKE MOST OF IT SURVIVED THE WINTER AND LOOKS GOOD, ENJOY!

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Mar 9, '10 You are so industrious and enthusiastic and I like the way your garden is shaping up. Hope you get to make some quince jelly - that's something I haven't had for a long time. Despite the freezing temperatures, things are slowly budding here.

delete reply djdx wrote on Mar 9, '10 I think it may still be a bit early for the mint. The parsley will probably go to seed as the season advances. i always let one or two stems do that and then it sprouts by itself, having self-seeded. I shall have to observe myself to see if I treat the food plants differently. :-)

delete reply stillwandering wrote on Mar 9, '10, edited on Mar 9, '10 what a wonderful blog! I haven't been outside for days with the rain, but today the sun is shining, and I think I will turn off the computer and go outside!

delete reply starfishred wrote on Mar 9, '10 wow wish we were that far along we have been having a hard freeze again the last 5 nights -5 and days not much over o well it looks like next week it will get warmerr-I would like to see what survived-you are on your way :)

delete reply veroniquemariquita wrote on Mar 8, '10 It is so good to be reading garden blogs again! I have had a couple of nice strolls through the area but haven't done anything yet.

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Mar 8, '10 looking good :)

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Mar 8, '10 It is always exciting to see the first signs of spring in the garden, especially after this winter. We still have a few weeks to go before we see anything break ground.

delete reply secretcorners wrote on Mar 8, '10 The thing to look out for when growing plants from seeds is a fungus problem known as Damping off Disease.

delete reply mitchylr wrote on Mar 8, '10 Seems like despite the severity of the winter, the majority of your plants have survived, and will thrive. It's great to see all the little signs of Spring bursting out. Keep up the good work :-))

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Mar 8, '10 greenwytch said ! isn't it nice to know that so many of the plants are as tough as they are beautiful? That's exactly how I feel. all that awful weather and then in the spring.....................every thing just comes back to life, its wonderful. I even think the strawberries have survived despite the pots they are planted in being cracked and broken, i'll have to find more pots for them.

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Mar 8, '10 WOW! what a good day of gardening! isn't it nice to know that so many of the plants are as tough as they are beautiful? thanks for the pictoral and the inspiration. ; D

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Mar 8, '10 Thanks EM..............think you're quite inspirational too :-))

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Mar 8, '10 tesstruhartz said i am jealous and I think jealousy why?? is it still frozen where you are??, thanks for your comments anyway and no need to be jealous of me, I only have a tiny town garden but I do try to make the most of it.

delete reply hedgewitch9 wrote on Mar 8, '10 You are an inspiration Loretta my friend!! Good luck with your little seedlings :))

delete reply tesstruhartz wrote on Mar 8, '10 i am jealous and I think jealousy is a sin, Oh my confession here I come