Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4

Week 1

General

Pruned CORYLUS and late-summer flowering varieties of CLEMATIS, pruning SAMBUCUS, SPIRAEA JAPONICA and BUDDLEJA DAVIDII varieties towards the end of the month, although most will be done in March. We also started to cut down some of the ornamental grasses if no longer offering interest.

The Hermitage roof (consisting of bundles of sticks) in the Woodland was becoming bare and brittle so it was all replaced with newly cut sticks which were wired into place.

All greenhouses and the conservatory had a thorough clean out, we pruned JASMINE, PASSIFLORA, PLUMBAGO, FUCHSIA, PELARGONIUM and ARGYRANTHEMUM, all pots were top dressed with new compost. As plants are starting to shoot they can be watered more often, they also dry out more quickly as the heaters come on during cold weather.

Allotment

Finished building mild hot bed and capped with 15cm (6") of our own garden compost.

Harvested CHINESE ARTICHOKES that had been grown in large pots and rep[lanted a few good tubers.

Greenhouse

Sowed PEA 'Douce Provence' (Dobies) into gutter.

Sowed BROAD BEAN 'Crimson Flowered (Heritage seed) and 'The Sutton' (Suttons) into deep modules.

Sowed ONION 'Red Baron' (Dobies) and 'Ramal' (Suttons) and LEEK 'Bulgarian Giant' (Dobies), 'Bandit' (Tuckers Seeds), CAULIFLOWER 'All the Year Round' (Suttons) and 'Mayflower' (Dobies); CABBAGE 'Kalibos', 'Greyhound' (both Suttons), 'Savoy Estorill (Thompson and Morgan) and 'Robinsons Champion' (Robinsons); BROCCOLI 'Summer Purple' and 'Green Magic' (Suttons); LETTUCE 'Lollo Rossa', 'Red Salad Bowl' and 'Salad Bowl' (all Suttons) and 'Mammoth Blanch' (Robinsons) into modules.

Sowed AUBERGINE 'Mohican' (Suttons), 'Bonica' (Dobies) and 'Cima Viola (Simpsons seeds); PEPPER 'Denver' (Dobies); CHILLI PEPPER 'Medusa', 'Tobasco', 'Alma Paprika' and 'Hungarian Black' (all Simpsons seeds), 'De Cayenne', 'Joe's Long', 'Hot Stuff' and 'Jalapeno' (Suttons) into trays.

Sowed TOMATO 'Tumbling Tom Red', 'Tumbling Tom Yellow', 'Romana', 'Alicante', 'Apero', 'Maskotka', 'Fantasio' (all Dobies), 'Golden Sunrise', 'Nimbus', 'Sungold', 'Sweet Olive', 'Ailsa Craig' (all Suttons), 'White Wonder' (Tuckers) and 'Britain's Breakfast' (Robinsons) and PEPPER 'Jumbo', 'Worldbeater', 'Gypsy' (all Suttons) and 'Patio Red' (Johnsons seeds) into 8cm (3") pots.

Sowed CELERIAC 'Prague Giant' (Simpsons) into a 12cm (5") pot.

Sowed PARSLEY 'Plain Leaved' and 'Favorit' (Suttons) into trays after treating with boiling water.

Week 2

General

Still cutting back perennials that look untidy, weeding and forking over as we go and dividing any herbaceous perennials if needed.

We have carried on reducing the height of some of our BEECH hedges, some of these need cutting back quite hard as they are also getting too wide and too high, we removed the build up of old fallen leaves from the hedge bottoms too. All brash was shredded.

Bird baths and feeders are regularly topped up. Any nest boxes were emptied if they had old nests in.

Allotment

Removed last of the BRUSSELS SPROUT 'Bedfordshire Fillbasket' and dug over area.

Reduced back the band of LIMNANTHES along edge of one end of the allotment.

Mixed soil, sand and leaf mould to a ratio of 5:1:1, adding calcified seaweed and a blood, fish and bone meal fertiliser. We then filled a beehive compost bin with this mix and sowed mammoth BEETROOT onto the surface before covering over with a cloche.

Planted POTATO 'Swift' into the hot box.

Planted MIZUNA; PAK CHOI 'Green Revolution'; LETTUCE 'Tom Thumb' and CARROT 'Paris Market Baron' and sowed RADISH 'Purple Plum' (Tuckers) into mild hot bed.

Pruned GRAPES.

Harvested last of the CABBAGE 'Minicole' and 'Offenham Flower of Spring'.

Tidied all yellow leaves from brassicas, choppinbg them up before adding to compost bin.

Elizabethan Vegetable Garden

Pruned RASPBERRIES and BLACK CURRANTS.

Removed last of the RED CABBAGE.

Gentleman's Cotage Garden

Pruned CURRANTS and fruit trees.

Directly sowed BROAD BEAN 'Martock' (Heritage).

Artisan's Cottage Garden

Pruned CURRANTS and fruit trees.

Parterre

Pruned fruit trees and climbing roses on obelisks.

Greenhouse

Sowed BEETROOT 'Moneta' (Suttons) and 'Solo' (Thompson and Morgan) into modules.

Sowed COURGETTE 'Black Hawk' (Dobies) into 8cm (3") pots.

Sowed RUDBECKIA 'Toto', 'Spotlight', Moreno' and 'Indian Summer' (all Suttons) into trays.

Week 3

General

Mulching flower beds with wood chip in Parterre Garden.

We continued to prune all deciduous trees, any crossing branches were removed and some shortened if needed, we finished pruning all APPLE and PEAR trees this month.

When the weather was favourable we started to clean out water features and ponds, this involved draining ponds with a submersible water pump then shovelling out the layer of leaves and debris from the bottom. We found that a cement mixer did a superb job of  cleaning the dirty cobbles from around the pond edges. Pumps were also cleaned out and any nets removed.

Ornamental Kitchen Garden

General tidy through.

Greenhouse

Sowed LEEK 'Pancho' and 'Autumn mammoth Snowstar' (Dobies) and PARSNIP 'Albion' (Suttons) and Exhibition (Dobies) into deep modules.

Sowed SWEET PEA 'Beaujolais' and 'Noel Sutton' into homemade newspaper tubes.

Sowed PEA 'Douce Provence'; CABBAGE 'Robinson's Champion' (Robinsons) and 'Kalibos'(Dobies); CAULIFLOWER 'Concept' and 'Snowball (Dobies) and LETTUCE 'Drunken Woman' (Tuckers), 'Mixed Salad Leaves', 'Saladisi' (Thompson and Morgan), 'Spicy Leaf Mix' (Johnsons), 'Cos Pandero' (Dobies) and 'Lollo Rossa' (Suttons) into modules.

Multi-sowed CARROT 'Early Nantes' (Suttons) and 'Parano' (Dobies) into modules.

Sowed CUCUMBER 'Pepinex', 'Passandra' (Dobies)and 'Baribal' (Suttons) into 8cm (3") pots.

Sowed CARROT 'Ideal' (Dobies) into a nice terracotta pot.

Sowed DAHLIA 'Disco Dancer' and 'Coltness Mixed' (Dobies) into trays.

Week 4

General

Organic slug pellets were sprinkled around emerging DELPHINIUM shoots.

Wall pots need watering regularly especially after it has been windy, perennials such as HEUCHERAS that are in pots benefit from having old leaves removed.

The lawns had their first cut of the season on a high-cut setting, lawn edges were also cut.

Allotment

Prepared seed bed at the back of the allotment and directly sowed BROCCOLI 'Olympia' and 'Tendergreen' (Dobies) and GLOBE ARTICHOKE 'Green Globe' (Suttons).

Ornamental Kitchen Garden

Continuing to tidy through beds.

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