Chilly April

 

Crocus, up and blooming under the viburnum!

       I'm having a domestic engineering day, because it's only 5 degrees out and I don't want to have to bundle up in winter gear to get out and garden. And anyway the house needs work. I am planning an all-out assault on our bedroom - Spring cleaning, if you like. The duvet cover is in the laundry and I think the curtains are coming down for a wash. I may even replace them for the summer, I don't know. A freshen-up is in order (and there's a wide variety of curtain fabric on clearance at the shop).
       Spring is progressing, as is gardening - I have re-skinned the greenhouse, and, innovation for the year, I have a thermometer out there, which, yesterday when the sun was out, was reading 40 degrees C. I opened up the ends to cool things down, although the only plants out there at the moment are onion sets, sprouting. I must also get some potatoes chitting right away.
        I finished feeding and mulching half of the raspberries yesterday. I am using for mulch some bags of wood pellets which had spent the winter outdoors and absorbed a lot of water, returning to their original sawdust form. I hope the fertilizer I put underneath will prevent it from leaching all the nitrogen from the berries as it decomposes. I am planning to give them a high nitrogen feed once the leaves start to emerge. I put lots of newspapers under the sawdust, as I am trying to control the cooch grass which is everywhere underneath the raspberry canes. I am trying to just dig it out of the vegetable garden, but it's impossible to get out of the raspberries, short of digging out all the canes. That's Plan B, if the mulch doesn't work! I have also carpeted between the rows, so the cooch should be well-suppressed.

     My "Pot for Winter Colour" is making good progress. There were some lovely dark purple crocus which lasted for weeks, and now the tete-a-tete daffodils are taking over. I haven't moved it indoors for the night in quite some time, even though we had a night-time temperature of  -7 a few nights ago. The flowers seem to have survived, and I hope the pot has too, as it's an unfired one. There are actual tulips coming as the next layer. At Beechgrove, they kept the bulbs in one of their layered pots, dried them off in situ, and got them going again in the fall - just to see what would survive, and it did quite well. I am not sure if I can spare the pot or the space - oh, I suppose it could summer in the greenhouse! Maybe I'll try it.
      My hellebore is blooming, at last! I planted it last spring, and it just sat there with the same 4 leaves all summer. I guess it was building up its strength, because this year it has produced two healthy flower stalks. I am as pleased as Punch.

        Here it is, looking at itself in the mirror so I can see the bloom, as it is a nodding one. There are many more blooms to come, I am pleased to note!

Happy April!

Although the weather is anything but happy. We are burning the last of the wood in the furnace and wearing sweaters indoors, but just can't seem to get warm. It's 3 degrees outside (or was, when we walked earlier) but there is a nasty SE wind and it goes right through you!
 

So, not much spring to report, although there were buds breaking on the beech trees and I saw pussy willows and catkins on the birches. Perhaps we are just beside a stretch of really nice weather. I hope so! I am finding this pot quite cheerful now that the crocus are out, though I am not sure that the daffs and tulips will actually bloom. TWT.

Yesterday I finished all of the Master Gardener course I had time for - I didn't do the assignments on fertilizing and propagating because I didn't plan ahead. I will be pleased if I can get enough marks to pass.

Another thing I'm awaiting is the start of Beechgrove Garden - should be this week! I think they start April 5th, but it may not be posted right away. I am watching Gardeners' World but it's not the same - the English climate is so much better/earlier than ours. The flower beds are still buried in snow here! There, they are planting, dividing perennials...sick-making. Oh well.

I have been finishing up knitting projects and digging out old hibernating ones. Blaithin is finished except for the i-cord bind off and the buttonhole row. I am a bit bothered about how thick the steek sandwich turned out, although there's no doubt that it makes a nice neat finish.

 

 This is the side where I'll make buttonholes, later, when I figure out button placement.

I was worried that the green wouldn't show up very well against the grape but it seems to be visible in the photos at least.

I think I might have to do a few more decrease rounds at the neck- it is quite loose - but otherwise the sweater fits well.

This is the button side, with that nice neat steek sandwich. I will not use such a high-contrast yarn for the crochet the next time - I used a bright orange, and sometimes it peeks out!

I also did some home sewing - a quilted runner, table square and 6 placemats, in shades of brown, oranges and golds to go with the kitchen. They're pretty garish, but I like them!

Almost St. Pat's!

      And I hear that there's a storm brewing for later in the week. It's March Break for the schools this week, and historically we usually managed to get one final big one sometime in the week. Ah well. I am only working two days this week, and not tutoring (because of March Break) so I can happily stay home and hibernate if necessary.
       I planted some more seeds today - three kinds of tomatoes (Hybrid Sweet Million, Melody mix and a blight-resistant one called Defiant), as well as cauliflower, cucumbers, larkspur and lavatera, pink and white. I did some of the tomatoes and cauliflower for indoors too, for comparison purposes. And I potted on the Osteospermum, just into tiny pots so the next move I can put them into proper-size pots with real soil, not just seed-starter mix. I put in some pelargonium slips as well. Feels like spring!
    We are booked to go to the Pub at noon tomorrow to celebrate St. Pat's with some of our dancing friends. We'll see how long we can hold on. We had our own St. Pat's dance last weekend at the BIS and it was great fun - though we only got six dances done in 3 hours. Amazing. We had developed a list of 12 and didn't even come close!
      We learned a cool new rumba move last night at Ballroom which we hope to perfect before next Saturday, when we are going to see a group called "The Count and the Cuban Cocktail". We are hoping there will be dance room.
    I have finished the pattern yoke on Blaithin and am about to do short rows, and then it's finishing - including the famous steek sandwich. The colours look nice, although the green doesn't show up too well. The camera has disappeared, or I would take photos!

The Freckle Wind

March continues mild and breezy, and I remembered this morning that my red-headed cousin used to refer to this phenomenon as "the Freckle Wind" because it brought out the freckles on us red-heads (as I was then!). I suppose that we spent more time outdoors then, too - investigating crystal structures in the rotting snowbanks, and breaking the skins of ice on the puddles on the way to school.

     Now I roost indoors, just going out to fill the bird feeders or check the mailbox, unless it's a work day. I am pleased to report that the Osteospermum "Fire and Ice" has germinated! And will need potting on in a few weeks. Nothing else is showing in the indoors pots, and certainly nothing in the mini-greenhouses outside - though that is to be expected, as they are mostly still frozen. It's perfect weather for maple-sugaring, if only we had a few sugar maples that were big enough!

    I've been knitting a bit, working on my Blaithin, which I'm making out of Briggs and Little wool. I have just started the Fair Isle yoke, and right now am doing three colours in the round - I wanted to make the background blend into the pattern so am carrying it (it's the grape colour of B and L Heritage) up into the yoke, which will be light mauve (Fundy Fog, maybe) with the flowers in white and grape. The sleeves worked up surprisingly fast, given that it took almost 8 months to get the body plain part done. I may be wearing it this spring!

Windy and wettish - welcome March

         Today I did more of the same - planted up some more milk jug mini-greenhouses - this time I put in alyssum, larkspur, Jacob's ladder, lots of candytuft, salvia blue angel, rudbeckia cherry brandy, purple tansy, bachelor's buttons, cosmos, and another kind of actaea.  I got the jugs from my father-in-law - cleaned him out.

A bigger group of mini greenhouses

     For keeping indoors I did another pot of cat grass, onions (bunching and Norstar) and leeks. It may be too early for the onions. The only thing that's come up from Feb. 22 is the cat grass. Ah well, Girly is happy.

      I managed to keep some Dichondra silver falls alive over the winter, so I put a few cuttings into a pot and bagged it, to see if I can manage to propagate them. There aren't many side shoots, as the light levels have been so low, so I only got 4 shoots to my pot.

Dichondra silver falls in a bag on the filing cabinet

      I am beginning to worry that I will soon run out of room for the indoor plants, especially if they will need potting on. And another thing is that the stores only have potting mix on sale at the moment, so when they need something with more nutrients I won't be able to get it.  I will have to re-skin the greenhouse/polytunnel this year, but I do think that March is a bit early for that.

 
            I saw my "pot for winter colour" in the garage/root cellar today, and decided that I could put it outdoors safely - the next couple of days will be above freezing, even at night. It was looking a bit dry and peaky, to be honest,  but the crocus shoots are up and I see a couple of daffodils poking through. Not exactly *winter* colour, but welcome all the same. There are even four pansies still alive.

Winter Sowing

         As previously mentioned, I have just learned about winter sowing and am giving it a try. Today I started some perennials and fruit in milk jug mini-greenhouses, and put them out on the deck. I am going to wait a month or so before starting tomatoes in this way (as advised by Kevin Lee Jacobs) as they can't take the cold and don't need the stratification that the perennials require.

        I ran out of milk jugs so I had to stop. Also, I need more potting soil/seed starter mix. And maybe more perennial seeds. If this works, I can't wait to do more of it. It's so therapeutic to be able to do something garden - related so early in the year. Now we must drink more milk and choose more seeds! 
        I've been listening to Scotland's Garden podcasts while working (on my great new dock machine Anne gave me!) so feel I'm going right through the garden year as I work. And learning as well.

Today I planted delphinium, actaea, shasta daisy ("crazy daisy"), lupins, alpine strawberry ("Temptation"), candytuft, cranesbill, and others I can't remember. But I must write them down, in case the marker washes off outdoors.
      I also started basil and cat grass in pots for the house, and a tray of osteospermum (seeds bought at Veseys this week!).  I am so tempted to try starting some plants both indoors and out, to see which does better. Perhaps I'll do that with the tomatoes later.
     Winter has continued to be a "real, old-fashioned" one, so we have had massive storms every weekend for the whole month of February. This week the 18th was "Islander Day", and it stormed all day - I cooked and sewed and photographed birds at the feeders - altogether an ideal day!

     We have had a lot of American Tree Sparrows at the feeders all winter - they are so cute with their little reddish top-knots. We bought a thistle-seed feeder and the goldfinches *do* use it, but not very often while I'm watching. But the thistle seeds are decreasing in the tube, and there are the tell-tale husks on the ground, so they are enjoying it - just not when I'm around with my camera.  However, I did get this one shot!

Trying to hurry Spring along

I have been out buying seeds, and pots, and today we stopped at Phillips Feeds and bought some chicken grit to put on the top of the pots to keep the seedlings from damping off and to improve drainage. Carol always does it so I'm giving it a try!
I am also going to try starting seeds in mini greenhouses made of milk cartons with drainage holes drilled in them, like Garden Designs here: http://www.gardendesign.com//seed-sowing-snow?pnid=122085. It is a *bit* late but I'm going to give it a go. The author's in zone 5 as well, so I have high hopes of success.
Veseys had some nice UK-made seed starter trays so I bought some of those, now I'm all set. As soon as I have a day at home I'll get started.