So it has been the coldest December on record, and January has hardly warmed the cockles of the heart yet - although we have actually seen the sun today – all day. Mind you, it has still been pretty raw out.
I wanted to make the most of the break in the depressingly dank grey weather, so I started by giving the grapevine in the courtyard a severe prune. Every year its triffid like growth gets wildly out of hand, so hopefully this will make it rather less unruly come the summer.It wasn’t until I’d filled a green bag with twiggy offcuts that it occurred to me to wonder whether my enthusiastic pruning might affect the number of bunches of grapes this year – by which time it was rather too late.
Over a cup of coffee to thaw out a bit, I thought about going to the Hill & weighed up what is on the List (dig parsnip, manure new potato bed at some point, I suppose, but there’s no rush) against the chill in the air & decided that I really didn’t fancy it – & that a six mile round trip’s worth of petrol really couldn’t be justified for a single parsnip.
Instead, I got my January seeds envelope out & sowed a pot of each of LEEK (saved), ONION (long red Florence) & LETTUCE (hsl stoke), which will go on the cold windowsill then out to the mini greenhouse when they are up.It might be the New Year, but there’s still a great deal of bleak midwinter about!
Isn't it dismal and dull out there! My patch is still under a few inches of water, and with all this London clay I would stick to the ground!
ReplyDeleteDear Miss Organised. Fancy a trip to Cumbria ... all these seed packets to get straightened out and that's before I weaken and start ordering more!
ReplyDeleteI can just see you walking round getting taller and taller as the soil sticks to your boots! The raised beds that I made a couple of years ago are the best thing I ever did. I could do with replacing the bark chippings on the paths though, they are starting to rot.
ReplyDeleteIt always starts so well organised, Bilbo, the only variable is at what point is start to forget to label/note sow dates/which variety etc etc....