All talk and no action

I realise that most of my posts recently have been about garden visits and the like and not much about actually doing any gardening and to be fair that is largely because I haven't been doing much! Before last Saturday the last time I went up to my allotment was 3rd February and that was really just to pick up my delivery of potatoes. When I went that time I found that despite using netting the pigeons had demolished the last of my kale and all I really had left growing were some leeks. I certainly need to plan better for winter crops this year.

I have been doing some things to prepare for the growing season ahead, my potatoes are chitting, I've bought a new cover for my small greenhouse, I've bought my seeds and seed compost and I've got plenty of trays and pots ready for my sowing.

But last weekend we had weather that every gardener craves, clear blue skies and sunshine, despite it still being a bit chilly it was perfect gardening weather and it coincided with a free weekend as well so all the better.
You have to have a good imagination in February/March and remember that the plot won't always look like this, especially when the weeds start growing again.

We've had a relatively long dry spell in Huddersfield and the surface soil is quite dry but still very moist underneath. My main aim this year is to improve the soil. I shared a big delivery of well-rotted manure with a fellow plot holder in December but unfortunately there were a few things going on at that time and the weather has just been so bad so I didn't get chance to get it on the plot before the new year which was a bit frustrating. So I used this good weather to get this started.
Last autumn I had also sowed some green manure on one of the beds and that needed digging in so that was my first task. I first used hand shear to cut the foliage down and then dug it all into the soil. Here are the before and after photos.

Elsewhere on the plot, I dug up the last of my leeks.

The rhubard is coming on well and I'm looking forward to a proper first crop from this plant.

I gave it a good mulch as well as round the redcurrant and gooseberry plants and gave the alpine strawberries a good haircut.
Then spent all of Sunday afternoon barrowing my manure onto the remaining beds, warming work but very satisfying. Will dig in soon.
It was great to get two long afternoons in at the plot, even if I was aching a bit when back at work on the Monday, but I'm so glad I did as its gone cold again this weekend, there was a very thin covering of snow this morning and the wind is bitter today.
Anyway I have finally made my first sowing of the year. I've sown some Chillis, some Celeriac (which I'm determined to get right this year and will be protecting them from slugs), some purple flowered artichokes and some Tomatillos, which I grew on my previous allotment but not tried them here before. I also started my Sweet Peas, some Broad beans, plus a few salad crops and pea shoots.
Not gone too mad as I know its not going to get warm anytime soon. I also planted my onions and shallots in modules to get them started before I plant them at the plot. The Garlic that I planted direct at the allotment is nowhere to be seen and the over-wintering onions are looking a bit feeble. Can you even see them in this picture. Last year the over-wintered onions did better than the spring planted ones but not sure they will this year but we'll see.

Spring is definitely on its way but its very stop and start with all this cold weather. Its like the plants have a way of pressing the pause button and putting growth on hold till the sun comes out again. The snowdrops are still going strong in my garden and the crocuses are just starting to flower. That is very late for nearly mid March. The tete-a-tete daffodils in my wall pots are just starting to flower but the other daffodils are very much far behind. The tulips are only just peaking their leaves up above the ground. Oh well there is one thing that gardening does teach us and that's patience.
Finally I'd like to thank Jo from The Good Life for nominating my blog for blog of the month in February and thanks for all the new visitors I hope you'll keep visiting.
Also thanks to Chel at Sweet Briar Dreams for nominating my blog for a Leibster award.

To a snowdrop

What is it about the snowdrop that so excites the gardener, probably the fact that it flowers in the depth of winter and yet is so delicate and beautiful a flower that you just prize it for its presence. When I moved to my current house it was the flower that I was most excited to see poking out of the ground that first winter, I'd never had any of my own before! I don't know what variety it is but it seems to like where it is as its spreading.

They are gaining some notoriety now for some of the mania around the different cultivars which maybe to the untrained eye can be different to tell apart. It seems that certain features get people very excited, such as those with some yellow rather than green at the top of the flower and green tips. I can certainly see the attraction and would like to know more. A phenonomenum has been spawned of Galanthophilia, but this is not a new term as I first thought it was, E.A.Bowles (1865-1954) the gardener and writer was said to have coined the term when writing to a fellow snowdrop admirer. Snowdrops do tend to capture the imagination of the media and there has been much in the news recently due to the record bidding wars for rare bulbs. Last year Thompson & Morgan, the seed company, paid £725 for Galanthus woronowii ‘Elizabeth Harrison’. This has a striking golden yellow ovary and yellow markings on the petals. The previous record was £360 for a single rare bulb of Galanthus ‘Green Tear’. Just thought I would have a quick look on ebay and you can snap up a bulb of  Galanthus 'Green Tear' for a bargain price of £227.22 though it ends in 22 minutes so be quick*.

Snowdrops are a favourite topic for garden bloggers at the moment and who can blame them there are not many plants to highlight at this time of year. Anyway every year I say I'm going to visit a snowdrop garden and every year so far the time has passed and I've missed out but this year I had the opportunity to visit Hodsock Priory, near Retford. What a treat on a most glorious sunny day and its certainly popular amongst visitors who flocked there in their thousands to view this humble flower.

Here they really gear the whole visitor experience to the snowdrop, with themed events, guided walks but there is also a food and drink fairs and a cafe. Plus importantly a plant sale so you can buy some of the plants that you see in the garden. Though it was busy you could escape from the crowds if you got there early and headed for the woods.

A carpet of snowdrops there for all to see, snuggled up in a duvet of beech leaves, you have to be quick to take photos and avoid taking shots of people scrabbling on the ground taking closeups! Never seen so many bottoms in the air! This garden was more about the mass of snowdrops rather than individual varieties and specific cultivars, there were relatively few labels on plants which I quite liked as sometimes they can be too intrusive and take away from the actual beauty of a garden. So its not a snowdrop garden for the real cultivar enthusiasts but maybe I just didn't see all the different varieties.
There is an open-air cafe in the glade when you can get a good cup of tea and a cake and sit round a bonfire to keep warm. It was a cold day but was a clear blue sky and sunshine and gave me a much needed boost.
Moving on from the woodland and you head to the more formal garden which has some amazing winter flowers.

Above is the Fan lawn where they also have events in the summer like theatre productions, all garden now seem to have to diversify to keep going.
It was also a good time to see that other highly prized winter flower, the aconite.

A stunning Witch Hazel.

 Hellebores and Irises.

Cyclamen and snowflake.

 A huge Garrya ellipta, with long long tassels next to a row of sweet smelling Christmas box, Sarcococca confusa.

A lovely specimen tree of Parrotia persica (Persian Ironwood) with dark red Witch Hazel like flowers on the bare stems.

The whole garden was a delight from start to finish and I think it is developing all the time. It will be interesting to visit at another time of year and see how its looks as a garden. I think the snowdrops are followed by bluebells later in the year.

This part of the world is actually where my mums family are from and all my brother and sisters have really strong memories of visiting my mums sister, my Aunty Lily (here is a fact about my mums sisters they are all names after flowers, Daisy (my mum), Lily, Iris and Violet. How great is that, its no wonder that I'm mad about plants and gardening, its in my genes). Aunty Lily lived near a farm and had a gorgeous garden, had chickens even a goat at one time and I have oh so many happy memories of visiting her and my Uncle Wilf. So while I was here I went to see her old house, sadly they are no longer with us, but it didn't look the same, though it was good to reminisce. Lily is buried at Babworth Church so I went to visit her grave is in a corner plot which backs onto fields almost overlooking where she used to live so a lovely spot.
The churchyard itself was full of snowdrops and in a few weeks time it will be a mass of daffodils.

Finally, William Wordsworth - To a snowdrop.

Lone flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they

But hardier far, once more I see thee bend

Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend,

Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day,

Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, waylay

The rising sun, and on the plains descend;

Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend

Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed May

Shall soon behold this border thickly set

With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing

On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers;

Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,

Chaste Snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring,

And pensive monitor of fleeting years!

* Actually I took so long writing the post that the sale finished, the bulb went for £330.01!

The Good Life part 2

Following on from Flightys recent post. Like him I was saddened by the news last week that Richard Briers had passed away. I was born in the early 70s and do remember The Good Life when it was on or at least the repeats and I still always try and watch it if they show it again now. I know it's cheesy and all a bit twee but I think it definitely struck a chord with me and certainly lay dormant until I had my own place and then the gardening urge took over. 

Flighty posted a clip showing Margo's muddy moment and it really did make me chuckle, especially her harvesting the beans one by one.

I was trying to think which clip to show and as we are all starting to chit our spuds and getting ready to plant them out, I thought the one where Tom invents a contraption called the non-stoop goodoscope to help with the planting was appropriate. Trust Barbara to notice the flaw in the design! Here they are busy with all the Spring planting jobs.

So did it really inspire a generation of "Good Lifers" maybe not, but it certainly inspired me.
It led me to get an allotment and my first one looked like this that first winter.

But with a bit of trial and a lot of error I managed to get a reasonable harvest.

This was my first allotment in Disley, Cheshire looking out towards Kinder Scout. I only had it for a couple of years but I really learnt a lot on that plot.

Then my more recent plot here in Huddersfield.It was fairly blank when I first started as many allotments are at this time of year.

But again a bit of dedication and hard work and it can soon get transformed.

Its nice to look back at your pictures as it just shows how things change, its encouraging especially at this time of year when everything at the plot looks so bare and bleak.

I'm certainly not self-sufficient but my plot provides me with plenty of seasonal crops, it gets me outdoors and it keeps me sane. I really recommend anyone to give 'growing your own' a go. Live your own good life.