Early Colour

The mild weather has meant that many plants are beginning to flower earlier than usual in our garden. We have already had the ‘Rinjveld’s Early Sensation’ Daffodils  flowering in November and now my Lenten Roses (Helleborus x hybridus) are rearing their beautiful heads, crowning the handsome deep green leaves below. We have a particularly striking apple green seedling that is covered in strong bud branches and about to show off the freckled flowers with matching fluffy stamens that complete the picture.

 All this activity has encouraged me to begin tidying up my borders, although I am wary that we could still get a spell of hard weather. At the moment, plants are suffering from wind scorch on their unseasonally soft growth rather than frost damage, which has been the case for the past three winters! Tender plants such as Penstemon and hardy Fuchsias may look scruffy but all of the old growth will need to remain for another month or two if I can bear it! Never the less, the borders are taking on a different feel as the green shoots of Daffodils and Snowdrops begin to pierce through the soil, along with the perennials  Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’, Hemerocallis (Day Lilies) and Pulmonaria ‘Blue Ensign’. Pulmonarias are such useful plants for shade and early colour – often starting to flower in January and February, when there is usually very little apart from evergreens to give interest.

Evergreens are the furniture of the garden and still give the most interest at the moment. The Myrtle (Luma) that I planted as a cutting from my grandmother’s garden years ago is now a huge tree. The tiny, deep green leaves are very wind proof and the bark is now mature enough to take on a beautiful cinnamon colour despite the local cats using it as a scratching post! Of course, plants that are known as ‘semi evergreen’ such as Abelia and shrubby winter flowering Honeysuckles have also kept their leaves because of the mild weather and we even have a semi evergreen climbing Honeysuckle Lonicera ‘Halliana’, in flower! The Hebes in the front garden have made pleasing, evergreen mounds and one has fluffy white flower clusters, which are more usually out in late summer, when they attract butterflies and moths.

 My Miscanthus grasses have looked amazing all winter; their leaves and stems bleached out to faded browns and the skeletons of the feather duster flowers hung on until the last vicious gale that we had stripped them bare. There are already plenty of new shoots coming up from the ground, so I have removed the old growth and chopped it up into short lengths for the compost heap.

One of the bins is ready to be turned and the compost closest to the base is rotted enough to use as mulch over any bare soil as I tidy the borders. This really does help to keep the weeds down and will help to protect my Crocosmia clumps if hard weather does threaten the soft shoots that are appearing. 

Mr McGregor

In The Garden

I have been in the garden recently, not planting or pruning (Mrs McGregor has been very helpful), but sorting out the cold frame and taking care of the little things. It has been busy in the McGregor household and I have been really enjoying getting my hands dirty. Here is what I have been up to the past week:

The cold frame

I have been busy cleaning the cold-frame glass to ensure my seedlings receive as much light as possible and also the windows indoors where Mrs McGregor’s plants are being grown.  

I have found that it is best to sow root crops under glass in modular trays rather than open seed trays, as this reduces disturbance to the roots later on. With the other seeds that I have sown recently I have been separating the seedlings and potted them up as soon as they're large enough to handle.

The tomatoes I have been growing have now been sown into pots and will be planted out after the risk of frost has passed. The problem with growing plants and new shoots outdoors is that they can be at risk of aphids. Luckily there were no signs when I checked, but they can be easily destroyed between finger and thumb.

The Little Jobs

I have been potting lilies as they are incredible stand-alone flowers for patios and terraces and can also be used as fillers to brighten gaps in borders.

Tip: Single bulbs need 7-8in diameter pots, but if you want to plant three, use a 12in container then cover the soil with a half-inch layer of grit.

I have had to act quickly to improve the clay soils by digging plenty of coarse grit into the top of the soil and had to mulch the areas of the garden I missed in the autumn.

Tip: Watch out for slugs and snails.

The last of the little jobs I did was re-potting the houseplants, this should help them grow well during spring and summer and also got round to labelling my bulbs, which I forgot to do when I planted them.

Mr McGregor



In The Garden

As well as being busy on the allotment, dealing specifically with my contaminated manure (very disheartening) I have found time to get into the garden, and what a busy bee I have been. I have had the helping hand of Mrs McGregor, so we have managed to do quite a lot in a short space of time, which is always nice.

It is incredible to find out what you can do when you have another pair of hands helping you. Mrs McGregor and I have been transplanting and using fertilisers our dormant deciduous shrubs, pruning our summer flowering shrubs and deciduous vines and fertilising the tulips as they have already flowered and watered the bulbs.

We have also had time to do some planting as well. We have managed to plant some tango lily cappuccino, daylilies and bleeding hearts.

Turning the compost pile was a lot of hard work and took quite a lot out of me, but it was a necessary job that needed to be done.

The garden is looking a lot neater than it did in the previous winter months, and seeing the tulips coming into flower is a lovely sight. Planting our new flowers has also given Mrs McGregor and myself a new burst of enthusiasm in the garden as well, knowing spring is just round the corner.

Mr McGregor