Spring in the Garden

Spring in the Garden

Monday 9 March 2009

Busy in the garden

We haven't just been playing with chickens when we've been out in the garden the last few weeks.

This weekend hubby has been busy clearing my log pile for overwintering hedgehogs that had become more of a branch mountain.


He's been putting loads of branches through the chipper to make mulch.

I planted some potatoes in bags as we are short of space in the veg garden. I planted them with the side with the most shoots uppermost. They are a 'second early' variety called Cosmos. 'Early' and 'second-early' potatoes are ready more quickly than main crop potatoes, but as a result they have smaller potatoes. However, being ready before the main crop potatoes, they are more expensive in the shops, and so are more worthwhile to grow yourself. They are also very tasty fresh out of the ground.































They've been sitting in egg boxes on our windowsill to chit since mid-January.


I also put in a couple of pink primroses after moving a few more primroses from that bed into the one on the other side of the path. In order to make way for them I dug out some Lungwort (Pulmonaria), also known as Soldiers and Sailors, as it tends to take over in damp shady areas.















I think the pink and yellow primroses together look better with this Lenten Rose than all yellow ones.

My broad beans and garlic are up and there was lots of sunshine on Saturday for taking photos.

As the weather had warmed up last weekend, hubby cleared compost from the bin I'd found a frog in a few weeks ago and put down some paving stones as a base for our new wooden compost bin, which he then erected on top of them.

6 comments:

  1. You have been busy! I think the potato bags are a great idea for when space is limited or tight. I have been admiring your wooden compost bins (I think I need to get out more) did you build them yourselves?

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  2. Glad you like our compost bin. I think it looks much better than the plastic ones, and there will be better air circulation as the air can get in a bit between the slats. We got it in kit form from the Organic Gardening catalogue. It slotted together fairly easily. I'll add a link in the post.

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  3. Hi Karin,

    Is it time for planting potatoes already? I have some of those bags too, I best get started on them.

    I made one of those New Zealand box type compost bins at my previous house out of wood from old pallets. I agree they are far nicer than the plastic ones. Just watch you don't set fire to it like my husand did - he put some ash from the fire into it, but it hadn't quite gone out. Luckily we spotted the smoke quite early and it only burnt a small hole in the back of the bin!!

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  4. Hi T H,

    I believe you can plant potatoes now, but equally, if it's not so warm where you live you can plant them a bit later. We live in the South and our garden is quite sheltered and south-facing.

    Thanks for the tip. We'll be careful with any ash we want to put in the compost. In the Autumn we are more likely to dig it in directly where we plan to grow peas and beans.

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  5. Thanks for the link Karin, much appreciated :)

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I look forward to reading your comments, it's always good to hear encouraging words or relevant hints and tips.