Mid-January 2022
Crikey it was cold this morning. -3 degrees outside, 0 inside the henhouse and plus 3 degrees in the greenhouse thanks to a temperature sensitive socket and an electric heater. I’ve set it to kick off, just one kilowatt, if the temperature drops below 4 degrees. As I have several precious and sensitive citrus hiding out the winter in the greenhouse I don’t want it to get frosty.
The hens don’t seem to care about the cold and, in any case, they hang out in the poulet-tunnel all day so are protected from any grotty weather. Only Cuckoo is laying at the moment but her eggs are egg-cup teetering colossal.
No sign of any fish in the pond, which is currently half-covered in a layer of ice. Having thought that the heron took every last one of them, I spotted a small flotilla hiding under the lilies a couple of weeks ago. No sign now though, so they’re either hibernating or have been eaten. On verra.
In the greenhouse several types of brassica have now germinated and I am itching to sow all 46 of my current tomato stash. However I know what will happen if I do. They’ll be as big as Alsatian puppies by March and marauding about the greenhouse when I’m not looking. I’ll want to release them into the potager whereupon a vicious late frost will have me scurrying for the seeds packets all over again. So I’ll wait a couple more weeks and hope there isn’t a boiling spell at the end of February when I will be in London. Spring is no time for a gardener to leave home.
Chillies and peppers were sown at the beginning of January and are doing fine. Spuds have been planted in 10cm pots. This is an experiment. I saw a chap on Youtube who planted his potatoes, without chitting, in pots, then, once they had poked above the soil surface, carefully transplanted them into much larger pots for growing on. It looked very successful so I’m always ready to be duped/taught something by some random fellow on the internet and I’m giving it a go. I like the idea of growing in pots as potatoes take up such a lot of precious space in the potager and I might need it for, say, tomatoes.
So that’s it. The growing year has begun. You can follow my sowing times here: Sowing Diary and take a look at my approximate sowing plan here: Sowing Plan/Calendar. None of it is set in stone. I flit where my mood takes me.
Meanwhile, here’s a stroll around the garden this afternoon.
