First time greenhouse owner

My neighbour has bought her first greenhouse. She’s 64 and has waited a long time for her mock Victorian glass room with its finials and luscious creamy finish. It has been worth the wait. It is a really lovely greenhouse. I’m helping her fill it.

Time to sow seeds

She’s never had the luxury of sowing seeds in January before so we are having lots of fun trying things out.

So far, we have sown gaura, and salvias.

Gauras are bee magnets

We have also sown two varieties of gaura. The Bride is a gorgeous white whilst Belleza is a rich cerise pink. Both are bee magnets.

We’ve stuck with blue with the Black and Blue salvia too.

Collect your own seeds

I’ve also given my neighbour some sweet pea plants which I planted from seed collected last summer. They had a real growth spurt during the warm sunny weather a few weeks ago and I thought they might burn themselves out. Luckily the recent frosts have slowed them down. One of the joys of growing flowers from seeds you have collected is you are never quite sure what you are going to get when they bloom. It is very exciting, and I can’t wait to see what comes up.

Nearly time for lupins

In a couple of weeks we will be sowing lupins from seed. Lupins don’t come true from seed so we have a mixed packet which should give us a nice variety of colours. If you want a particular colour or variety such as Red Rum or Manhattan Lights you need to buy plants.

Signs of spring

There are signs of spring all over the garden. Daffodil tips are poking through the grass and borders. One optimistic camellia already has a solitary gorgeous deep pink flower and the rest of the buds are fattening up.

Out on the vegetable patch I am still harvesting sprouts and parsnips. But I am already looking forward to summer pickings. My garlic and onions are in. So far the birds have only pulled out a couple of the onions. I check them every morning to see what damage has been done. It is still too early to put most other vegetables in the ground. But, my potatoes are chitting. It won’t be long before spring is well and truly here.

Gardening tips  

Sow garlic and onions for late summer harvesting; start sowing summer annual seeds under glass; clean greenhouse windows; use our catalogue to plan purchases for next summer; don’t walk on frosty grass or you will damage it.

#spring #sunny #warm #daffodils #winter #colour #gaura #salvias #lupins