Chris Palmer
Do you remember when NEXT first arrived on the scene starting a revolution in shopping? I think it was as far back as the early 1980s. It came to my mind recently. It’s strange how our minds can wander, isn’t it?
The shirt that I bought online when the company first launched arrived in a smart lined box, wrapped delicately in tissue paper. It fitted well, which was a bonus. I have been wearing it ever since, though admittedly it seems progressively tighter. It has now been relegated after all these years to G.U.O. Have a guess!
There is a natural progression for shirts in my life. I buy them new and will wear them to ‘smart casual’ events. After a few uses, when they have lost the first bloom of youth (such as acquiring an indelible red wine stain) they become for general use. This can last for a variable number of years. If the shirt is a big favourite, I might eke it out for as long as possible, say once a week, and that is what happened with my NEXT shirt. Now it is Garden Use Only. I hope it lasts for a good number of years still. Its final resting place will be as an oily rag or to wipe my fork clean.
This is a time when at last we can get forks into the ground and prepare, in particular, the vegetable bed for spring sowing. I will be getting my early tatties in, as long as the ground is not hard from a late frost. Since early January they have been stored on a north-facing bedroom window, chitting happily away. For those unfamiliar with this process, it means buying them early and starting them in a cool bright area. Now the shoots are a good length and the veg patch is ready. I always dig in organic matter in the early spring, sometimes well-rotted seaweed, more often farm manure.
Traditionally, Good Friday was the day for sowing early potatoes. This year Easter is relatively early, and I could wait until April 3rd. For most gardeners that would be acceptable. I am, however, inclined to be impatient and prefer late March. I will keep an eye on the weather. I’ve started to use an amateur Ayrshire weather forecaster as well as the BBC. I may have mentioned him before. Martin’s Weather, available on Facebook, is a very useful local weather source. If the forecast is reasonably favourable, I will sow my first row. This year I’m trying a new variety – Caledonian Pearl. It is described as a yellow-skinned variety with waxy flesh. Just how I like my tatties!
In the flower garden, it is time to ensure that all daffodil plants are dead-headed as soon as the flowers have gone over. Snap off the spent flowers below the swollen seed head. This allows the energy of the plant to divert into the vital formation of next year’s flower bud within the bulb. Also note, that if possible, the daffodil foliage should be left on the plant for at least six weeks or so after the flowers are over. Dead-heading applies to all the spring bulbs as the flowers go over in the next few weeks. It is easy to forget this important process.
Apparently, there’s another important process to consider.
“What do you mean you haven’t spring-cleaned the greenhouse?”
Not for the first time I was in trouble with my greenhouse guru, Sandy. I tried to placate him.
“I’ve only had it twelve months.”
“It’s a winter job. Start as you mean to go on. Clean it on the inside to avoid any bugs building up. Soapy water and a thorough wash. Replenish the soil with fresh compost. It’s not too late.”
Sandy is such a source of sound advice that I do not take exception to his occasional rather tetchy comments. I am looking forward to a new year in my greenhouse. To my surprise Sandy advised me that in pursuit of the perfect home-grown tomato he intends to experiment with a new variety.
I challenged him: “You said last year that Crimson Cherry could not be beaten.”
“Tomatoes are rated on a scale for sweetness. In a recent trial, Sweet Aperitif came out ahead of Crimson Cherry, so I thought it was worth a try.”
As Sandy kindly offered to give me any spare plants, I was delighted to share in the experiment. This is, I believe, what most gardeners do almost without thinking. We love to share, be it seeds or plants. It works both ways. I always over-order seedlings or seed potatoes. I can usually find a home for any excesses and in return I will get a plant or even some spare fruit during the autumn.
Gardeners also tend to be honest about their successes and failures. I try to be open about mine. This space is in fact a useful confessional. For example, last year I forgot to label my dahlia tubers when I stored them in November. In mitigation I would point out that at the time I was listening to a football match on the radio. I lost concentration. My team had let in yet another goal. Yes, I know, it is a poor excuse. I should stick to music or a current affairs blog.
So, I scored an own goal with my dahlia tubers. I’ll be taking them out of storage in early April. They were wrapped up in newspaper and put in a frost-free cupboard in my garage. It will be fun, I suppose, trying to guess which one is Edinburgh, still my favourite, and which one is Blue Bayonne, a newer variety that I bought from Sarah Raven’s mail-order company. I was pleased with the latter, though it was more dark pink than blue. To my mind, one of the advantages of digging up dahlia tubers and storing them over winter (as opposed to leaving them in the flowers bed, covering them with a mulch, and hoping the frost is not too hard) is that after two or three years, as they get larger in size, they can be split, and two plants will be created.
This is an exciting time of year for gardeners. We have that precious extra hour of daylight. We pray for mild weather. The lawnmower has been serviced. New seeds have been bought. It is time to put planning into action.
Whatever its size, enjoy the time in your garden.
