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Happy New Year
Much is made of the hope and optimism that the start of a new year should bring but the reality is, of course, somewhat different. Hangovers, the feeling that we ate too much over the Christmas period and the sinking feeling that January, my least favourite month, stretches out in front of us, is somewhat closer to how most of us greet the start of another year.
It’s no great surprise though that as humans we love the idea of a fresh start, a clean slate and the thought that things will be different in the new year. Companies know this which is why we’re bombarded with adverts for online dating, detoxing, losing weight and holidays at this time of year. For us growers that feeling has probably never been as strong as at the start of 2013. You have to be quite optimistic to be a gardener and lets face it after last year’s summer and autumn the fact that we’re planning to pick up our spades and fill those seed trays once again is pretty remarkable. So, although January can be an inhospitable month, we know that a new growing season is upon us and we’re buoyed with hope that this year will be better than last. It would be hard not to be though.
I’ve got quite a big project on my hands this year, I’m writing a book based on my allotment. So, whilst I’m excited, I’m also feeling a sense of trepidation, partly about delivering the actual book and partly that the weather is going to cause me no end of headaches when it comes to getting plants ready for their photographs. A normal spring can be stressful enough.
Flooding at Ross on Wye which could be renamed Ross on Sea
Plans for 2013 involve a spot of replanting in my front and back gardens. Some plants have rather taken over. Yes, you know who you are, astrantia. And other spots don’t have enough seasonal interest. There’s the constant challenge of making the allotment as productive as possible. And I can’t wait to get growing in my new greenhouse. I have plans for some tomatoes, a chilli plant and possibly a cucumber. However, I don’t want to get carried away, which I think I’m in danger of and find the greenhouse is so full I can’t get in there.
The impact of the weather in 2012 hasn’t dampened my enthusiasm for growing but it has made me reflect on the plants I grow. I’m not yet completely decided but I think this might be a spud free year. My plants last year didn’t do well and for the amount of space they take up I’d prefer to grow something more reliable and that is more prolific. I think, and my plans are still in their early stages, that I’m going to try to grow the crops we eat a lot of, such as bean, peas and lettuce, really well and focus less on trying new things this time. Celeriac will definitely make a reappearance and I hope to grow more Florence fennel over a longer period this time. I’m looking forward to reading about everyone’s plans for their own gardens and allotments over the coming months.
So, for me, it’s the thoughts of seedlings galore, buds breaking and the first signs of spring that refresh me. Forget the detox and get sowing will be my mantra for the start of 2013.
Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2013. Lets hope the rain stops, the ground dries up and that the weather is kinder to us this year. Best wishes WW x
Congratulations on your forth coming book, I hope 2013 brings you the weather you need to grow your veg and take super photos for your book.
This year, I will just be trying to make the garden here better than before, more of the same plus quite a few new plants grown from seed. The undergardener and I have a huge big birthday this year, 3 score years and ten, so want the garden to be at its best in July!! Happy New Year WW !
Thank you Pauline, I’ve got my fingers crossed for some benign weather this year. I have visions of my having nightmares over the coming months about my crops being decimated over night by rampant slugs.
Your garden is amazing already so I look forward to seeing your new ideas come to fruition. And how exciting that you have a big birthday coming up. Have you got any plans for your celebrations?
What a lovely positive write-up!
I so agree that it’s best to ignore all the ads and concentrate on the promise of what can be in the garden.
I LOVE Spring! When I hear those Great Tits (might be Blue Tits) singing on a sunny morning in Feb/March, you know that Spring is round the corner! Later, you start to see that gorgeous fresh green haze of new buds and leaves appearing on the trees and hedges!.
I grew some cucumbers once – very productive and successful! You’ll need space above the pot to tie up the fast-growing main stem. Regular watering I think is the key with them.
I volunteer on our local Community Allotment – a lovely place to spend a couple of hours, twice a week! I find it very therapeutic pulling up cooch (spelling!) grass!!
Happy New Year!
Thanks Debbie, I know I can’t wait for spring. The first day when I can garden in just a top and no hat, scarf and thick coat is amazing and the fresh green emerging everywhere. I tried cucumbers on the plot last year but the weather put paid to them. Hopefully I’ll have more success in my greenhouse this time. Happy gardening in 2013.
A nice reflective post to start the year off! The book sounds interesting and I look forward to reading it in due course.
I’m happier now it’s the new year and can see crocus and daffodils just appearing.
I walked round the plot this morning in the welcome sunshine thinking about a couple of months time when hopefully I shall start planting and sowing.
Happy growing in 2013! xx
Thank you Flighty. The sunshine yesterday was beautiful and gave me a real spring in my step. Dull and overcast again today unfortunately. Still there is that sense that we are moving in the right direction now and the longer days won’t be too far away. Looking forward to reading more of your posts in 2013. WW x
Happy New Year. How exciting, a book. I look forward to hearing more about it.
Thanks Jo and to you and your family. Exciting and nerve-wracking in equal measure at the moment.
Hi Welly, hope you wrote this yesterday and you’re sharing the dry, sunny day which has kicked off 2013 for Londoners. Sunny days always fill my head with gardening thoughts and plans so this is an optimistic start for me! Like you, I’m concentrating on quality rather than variety this year in the veg patch and also using the newly acquired knowledge from my garden design course to improve the York Rise gardens. Lots to do – can’t wait to get started! And I’m looking forward to reading the tales from the greenhouse. Good luck with your book project … sounds interesting!
Yesterday was beautiful and we spent it walking the tow path of our local canal, unfortunately back to grey and overcast today. It’s amazing the difference the sun makes. I felt so energetic yesterday but today feels like a bit of a slog again. Probably just the trying to get back to normal after the Christmas break. My ‘to do’ list is several pages long which is a rather daunting way to start the year. Still, it make January fly by. Looking forward to reading about your plans over the coming year. WW
Happy New Year to you Wellywoman! And your other readers. Am just going out to find out what’s flowering in my garden, as the Cottage Garden Society’s email group has been doing that for Christmas Day. What a lot they have! I know I have viburnum as I can see it from here, and also winter jasmine… if I get any more I may post on my blog.
Good luck with your book!
JaneX
Thanks Jane. The mild weather so far means I have primroses flowering their socks off. It’s lovely to see them but really quite unseasonal. I think I’d prefer it if they waited until February.
Hi Louise, Good luck with all your growing for the book. Hope you have a very successful and enjoyable 2013. V.best Naomi
Thanks Naomi, Just trying to get back into the swing of things after the Christmas break. It’s not easy
. Good luck with your book when it comes out. Lets hope for a health, happiness, success, and prosperity all round. And, of course, trugs full of lovely crops.
I enjoyed reading about your perspective of the New Year. You are so right! We feel bloated, but the thought of shedding the old is very gratifying, if elusive. Good luck to you on your new book. And I love your hope that the weather is kinder to all of us. That one aspect can make or break a garden, and a gardener’s dreams. Happy 2013!
Thank you. There isn’t much we can do about the weather but just hope and get on with it. Fingers crossed for sunshine and warmth.
Happy New Year WW.
Good luck with the book. Very exciting!
Hi Jono, Thank you and Happy New Year to you too. I’d say exciting and nerve-wracking in equal measure at the moment regarding the book.
Good luck with the arrival of your little one and, of course, your plans for your productive garden. I think it’s a good idea to not give yourself too many goals this year and I think I should take a leaf out of your book. My seed list is way too big for my space and available time this year. The temptation to want to grow everything is just so strong. My OH just rolls his eyes now when I say that I’ve found something else I want to grow. 
May the weather cooperate with your book writing!
Thanks Diana I’ve got my fingers crossed.
Very best wishes to you for the coming year. Good luck with the book.
Bridget x
Happy New Year to you. Congratulations on the book project that sounds very exciting. I hope you have some better weather for the growing season. Looking forward to following your progress again. Its surely got to stop raining at some point! Was a good day here today and made my first trip to the allotment for a while and feel so much better now, fresh air and some exercise after a hectic Christmas was just what I needed.
Happy New Year WW ~ may it treat you and your garden/allotment kindly. A book!!! How exciting. No doubt you will tell us more about it as and when and I will keep fingers crossed for you that the weather duly obliges. Astrantias do have a leaning towards world domination – bitter experience has taught me to deadhead when they are done flowering.
Good luck with all that. I hope 2013 delivers everything you hope it will.
Good luck with the book. I do hope the weather is better next year – some of my veg were distinctly unhappy with the weeks of cloud and rain we had in 2012.
A greenhouse is so handy and the extra protection expands the choice of things you can grow. I wouldn’t be able to grow tomatoes (outside ones suffer from blight) or tomatoes, chillies and cucumbers without one. Time to peruse those seed catalogues!
Best wishes for the New Year.
I love your mantra! I could live by that too
Amazing news about your book! Can’t wait for that!!
I love new plans! I would say that growing tomatoes and cucumbers in the same greenhouse is a mistake, they need very different conditions. I’m considering growing potatoes in sacks or dustbins, maybe sunk into the ground as described by Bob Flowerdew on gqt recently. Christina
I’ve decided against cucumbers this year. Thanks for the tip. To be honest I think I was getting a bit carried away anyway and I’ll have more than enough to squeeze into the greenhouse anyway.
Huge congratulations on the allotment book commission. I think you’ll enjoy the combination of writing and growing at the same time. Let’s just hope for better weather.
Exciting plans for the year ahead – look forward to watching it unfold.
Happy New Year.
Congratulations on the book. Hope the weather in 2013 is kind to you.
And a belated Happy New Year to you. Thank you for your kind words about the book. Lets hope the weather is kind to all of us this year. Hope you get some cooler temperatures soon.
Hi WW, how exciting! Good luck with the book (and weather) – but do remember us when you’re famous and presenting GW. A chilli in a pot should provide you with a lot of chilli’s – if the sun shines that is. I grow four cucumbers in the greenhouse and they crop heavily but take up a good deal of space. And sorry to hear about your potato disappointment. Was it just last years lousy weather do you think? I find them pretty easy to grow and digging up the crop always very rewarding. But then I can’t really grow lettuce for toffee – it always seems to get munched by snails and pheasants and goodness knows what else. Ho hum, gardening joy. Happy New Year! Dave
Thank you.
I was on TV once, quite a while ago now, when I first worked at a museum. Had to talk about sausages, we were hosting an exhibition on food. It was dreadful. Of course, my parents recorded it for prosperity and showed it to any boy I ever brought home. The tape has been destroyed now fortunately. So I have no desire to ever enter that realm again. 
Decided against the cucumbers when I ordered my seeds. I was getting a bit carried away I think. My greenhouse is tiny. As for spuds, it probably was just the weather last year but I think there’ll be so many slugs in the soil from all the rain that they’ll end up full of holes. I know what you mean, digging spuds is fun and I do like being able to grow varieties I can’t get from the farmers’ market. The best harvest we’ve had was from growing them in compost sacks when we were renting a house and had no veg patch. Hope you have a great 2013. WW
What an exciting year! Congratulations on the book, I hope the weather makes it a pleasure not a pain, for all of us who want to grow things. My own growing plans sound a lot like yours. I certainly recognise the over-planted greenhouse threat, personally I would try an outdoor cucumber variety and save the greenhouse for tomatoes and a chilli plant or two. I intend to grow lots of tasty things we eat lots of that are eat a lot of, are productive in a small space, and tend to be expensive to buy. So yes to celeriac, legumes of all sorts, and a big no to potatoes. If I had room I would grow some first earlies, but no. And then of course there are all the perennials and annuals to fill the bare borders of my new garden… Happy 2013, hope it is an excellent year for your writing and growing.
Thanks Janet. The weather is already causing me problems with the mild weather and now the inevitable colder weather. I fear it’s going to be a theme for this year.
I tried an outdoor cucumber last year but it was a disaster. I guess it wasn’t the best year for them. I tend to just do first and second earlies but even those didn’t do well last year and took up a lot of space. I can’t wait to see your new garden unfurl over this year. Exciting times 