'Willpower & sheer idiocy combine in harmony'
Or rather, what I DIDN'T do, did badly, or gave up on
IT doesn't matter how clever you think you are, or how many gardening books you've read, toiling on the land comes down to three things:
1. The time you can commit to it;
2. The weather;
3. Whether you can be bothered to do the more unpleasant jobs.
Honesty is alway the best policy, and this is my warts-and-all monthly guide to what I did and didn't do.
Let's face it, there's usually no big deal - if you're late, plants catch up, if you're early, nature will kill them and teach you a lesson.
Let's start with the best of intentions...
JAN 2: Cuttings and division frenzy. As part of my grand plan for a new front garden, to save money, I'm taking cuttings or dividing from stock I already have.
I took loads of Sempervivum and Sedum cuttings, mainly to save plants from waterlogging.
Also managed to divide Bergenia Admiral, Sedums Autumn Joy and Purple Emperor, plus blood grass.
JAN 10: Scrabbled around in the mud to extract Helleborus niger (Christmas rose) seedlings from daffodil shoots. Potted up, growing on in cold greenhouse.
JAN 16-17: Hedge restoration began by hand - eight hours over 2 days and just the area around the pond done.
Pond appears to have a leak...
JAN 19: Pond clearance -
3-hour stint to remove water/maud/plants as liner perished. Only fell in once. Hurt dreaded tendonitis/tendonosis/tendonopathy-prone left wrist again - painkillered and splinted up.
JAN 23: Seed sowing begins - sweet peas Cupani, Harrogate Gem, Singing the Blues, candlebra Primula Harlow Carr and Echium Red Rocket.
JAN 24: More sowing - Cosmos Brightness Mixed and Cupcakes.
JAN 27: Cosmos germinated!
JAN 28: Pond reshaping. Daft long end bit filled in - also decided to create east-facing bed.
Sweet peas start to germinate.
JAN 29: Storm Gertrude - greenhouse smashes, all big panels. Gutted, as it was only installed (professionally) in May.
Plug plants scattered, scented-leaved pelargoniums and overwintering cup and saucer vine all exposed to freezing winds. Scrabbled about in dark with a torch trying to cover them up. Failed.
JAN 30: Repotted plug plants - only lost a few, thankfully.
Really wanted Cornus mas Variegata for new bed. Unfortunately, they are extortionate. However, on trip to Dobbies to buy soil, find Cornus alba Spaethii (red stems) and C.sericea White Gold (yellow) - both variegated - in clearance section for £4 each!
JAN 31: Clearing up after Storm Gertrude, just in time for Storm Henry.
Sempervivum cuttings in a teapot, January 2.
January...
My gardening diary: what I did & when
Blood grass and Sedum divisions and cuttings, January 2.
Hedge before its restoration, January 16.
Primula Harlow Carr sown, January 23.
Cosmos Brightness Mixed and Cupcakes and sweet peas germinate, January 30.
FEB 4: Repaired greenhouse - actually quite easy to reglaze, with help from Vanessa. Patched up a panel with polystyrene.
FEB 6: First daffodils Tete a Tete out and plum Lizzie opens first blossom. Three weeks earlier than last year, six weeks earlier than 2014.
FEB 7: Early opening of birthday presents - BioGreen heat mat, greehouse shelving and a grow light. "We'll be having a raid from the drugs squad," moans Gary.
FEB 10: Rearranging conservatory and setting up grow light/heat mat. It's like a disco in there. Beware if you buy a BioGreen heat mat - they have 2-pin plugs, so you'll need an adaptor.
FEB 11: Created new semi-shady bed out of loam stack near the pond. Planted two variegated Cornus I found in a plant centre sale for £4 as a backdrop, forgetting they're next to a variegated holly. Bergenia Admiral divisions to be added.
FEB 12: Filling the big propagator - sowed tomatoes Suncherry Smile, Orange Paruche, Pink Charmer, Green Zebra and Crimson Crush; Echiums E. wildpretii, E. fastuosum, E. fastuosum Blue Dwarf; poppy Black Beauty; broad bean Super Aquadulce; Campanula lactiflora.
FEB 13: Finally ordered new pond liner/underlay. Until the pond's done, I can't finish the new bed.
FEB 22: Sowed foxgloves Candy Mountain and Summer King; Aquilegia Green Apples; Antirrhinum The Bride and tomato Sunchocola. Reglazed greenhouse.
FEB 22-25: Relined the pond (see feature).
FEB 25-27: Repotting and top-dressing all conservatory pots - geraniums, cacti, Canna, bananas.
FEB 27: Sowed sweet pea Eleanor Udell and Cosmos Gazebo Mixed. Pricked out tomatoes Suncherry Smile, Orange Paruche, Pink Charmer and Crimson Crush and Cosmos Cupcakes and Echium Red Rocket. Started Dahlias and cucamelons back into growth from tubers.
FEB 28: Another 3 hours spent hacking the hedge back.
Daffodil Tete a Tete and Choisya Sundance, February 6.
February...
New bed and pond, Feb 25; tomatoes and Echiums in the propagator, Feb 27.
MAR 2-10: Laid up with horrible virus. Nothing done.
MAR 12-13: Back in the saddle - 10 hours spent finished hedge restoration (at last), planting up new bed by pond and creating new 'hot' bed - sheltered by the wall for exotics.
MAR 14: Trip to the tip. General tidy up of 'spring border' (small patch with bulbs).
MAR 17: Tidied and replanted shady end of long border. Cardiocrinum (Himalayan Giant lily) looks to have left bulblets behind after it flowered. Pricked out Echium wildpretii, E. fastuosum, E. fastuosum Dwarf Blue and Cosmos Gazebo Mixed. Planted potted honeysuckle into drive bed to cover bare patch in fence.
Echium Red Rocket, March 8 - other three types catching up.
March...
Geranium Black Magic.