Well, that felt a bit more like a winter month. Once again though Gloucestershire dipped under the early snow storm, Goretti might have been founded on a bit of hearsay. It was amazing to hear the alarm bells across the nation; we have had our fair share of rain though. The ground has become just a little soggy. I am sure that plenty of effort has been made to store water to counter the inevitable summer heatwave.
The great news is that the growing season is underway. Centres are full of offerings for the new season. We can be selecting our seed potatoes and even planting onion sets and shallots, with garlic, horseradish and rhubarb also available. I love this time of the year for visiting seed racks, I am like a child in a sweet shop and still find things to buy that I have never grown before. Seed sowing should be at the heart of everybody’s gardening year. The magic of the germinating seed never fades. It was certainly my way into horticulture as a child, standing at the shoulder of my Dad, who had a wizards hand. The gardening industry is giving great thought to smaller space gardening, with varieties being developed to fit, Look out for patio vegetable seed, there are some very good new aubergines, peppers and tomatoes to try. Most of these seeds can be started on a window sill too.
If you are not feeling overly adventurous then just try a pinch of lettuce. The seedlings will need transplanting, but you will have seedlings inside of a fortnight. Flower seeds are also worth checking out, with some seed just needing to be scattered towards the end of the month onto a border to do their own thing. Calendula, Escholzia, Nigella and Larkspur all seem to cope with just being broadcast onto lightly raked surfaces.
If you want to just get on with a bit of planting, then potted bulbs are around and of these currently of course Snowdrops are the most popular. They seem to be in plentiful supply and once you have a clump settled it is likely they will colonise. If you are wanting colour, then Primroses are are about. They can vary a bit in hardiness, but are survivors and will recover from a cold thump if the weather turns dirty.
And finally, make sure you visit an open garden Snowdrop display this month. We are spoilt for choice in Gloucestershire.
Happy Gardening
Chris Evans
www.dundrynurseries.co.uk
www.thebutterflygarden.org