I’m late, I’m late … (as the White Rabbit said)

Late late the: a concise orientation before we get practical.

Late late the: Quick notes

There are buds on my Fritillaria imperialis, the tulips are flowering, violets are awash with purple scented flowers and here in London, a week of fine weather is forecast!  I’m allowing myself to believe that spring has arrived. 

It’s time to get on with important gardening stuff, like sowing seeds and planting potatoes (probably should have done that already) but I haven’t yet. Hence, late. Will it matter? I’m not sure.

The Spring Equinox is next weekend and so far I’ve spent more time deciding what to grow this year than actually sowing seeds.  March is usually a very busy time with a few seed packets lined up in readiness (chillies, leeks, peppers, tomatoes) but, forgive me for pointing out the obvious, weather has been up one day and then sliding back down to unfavourable weather conditions the next. Woe is the gardener (me) with no greenhouse or clear windowsills.

But never one to admit defeat, I’ve ordered a couple of LED lit propagators to remedy the lack of light. These are also self-watering from a water well underneath which allows seeds to soak up just enough water – how cool is that. That should prevent the over zealous watering of tiny seeds. I’m irrationally excited by this and, if anyone is interested, will monitor indoor progress of said tiny seeds.

When it’s cold, grey and damp outside, with no respite in sight, it’s hard to drum up the enthusiasm to get outside. It never used to bother me, I must be getting old! A whiff of sunshine however will do the trick, if only there was more of it. I’ll regret writing that if we have another relentlessly scorching summer. 

In the meantime though, there is food to be had from the neglected veg garden. The 4 year old Purple Sprouting Broccoli is reliably sending up tasty looking shoots and the last of the Cavolo Kale needs to be picked before it flowers. I’m wondering if the flowers are edible? No doubt I’ll be nibbling a few on my next foray into the Veg Patch.  

And the Red Champagne rhubarb is looking healthy. Last year I moved it from under the apple tree where it had produced very few tiny stalks last year; it’s now in a more open space and flourishing. That gives me the excuse (hardly needed) to dust down my Rhubarb Crumble cake recipe – if it’s got fruit in it, it goes towards my 5-a-day, right?

Until next time, happy gardening!

Caro x

We reference Late late the briefly to keep the thread coherent.