Flaming blueberry bush
I’ve been running around in a bit of a panic this week trying to get the plot and garden sorted. I saw the forecast for the week ahead, on Sunday night, and no my eyes did not deceive me, there were snow flurries shown on the map. OK they aren’t meant to make it so far as Wales but those icy winds from the Arctic looked like they might. Even the weatherman was warning gardeners they had a 4 day window to prepare for the cold spell. Well I can confirm today that it is more than a little nippy outside. Cold enough for a woolly hat and gloves.
My franticness has been exacerbated by demands on the work front. Projects are starting to take off but rather like buses they seem to have all come along at once. Now I’m not complaining but it has all rather taken me by surprise. Blogging activity has been curtailed, so my apologies if I don’t get round to responding to comments or have a chance to leave them on your own posts. I just need to get organised and manage my time a little better and I’m sure normal activity will resume once again. A 26-hour day might help, too.
The weather this week hasn’t exactly been conducive to spending time in the garden. A dark grey, looming sky has hung over this part of Wales all week. Monday was wet and I started to worry I was never going to get the remainder of my daffs planted. We found a real bargain at a local garden centre a couple of months ago. You could fill a medium-sized plastic flower-pot with Narcissi bulbs for £2.99. Wellyman did see this as a bit of a challenge and quickly devised a strategy to place the bulbs in the pot to maximise the space. By placing the first layer of bulbs facing up and then the next facing down, and so on, he believes we got about ten more bulbs than the lady next to us!! Wellyman does love a good deal and 45 bulbs for £3 certainly fitted that bill. So much so, that we went back for a second visit at the weekend to stock up on some more.
Tuesday was drier so I took the plunge. The soil was a little claggy in places and ideally I wouldn’t have been doing anything with it but my bulbs needed planting. It’s surprising how time consuming bulb planting is and, as I think I may well have mentioned before, it is not one of my favourite gardening tasks. Well worth it come spring though. Wednesday was spent moving any tender plants into pots and bringing them indoors and potting up some of the herbs to overwinter in the cold frame. My succulents are tucked away under cover too as they hate a wet Welsh winter. Chairs and table were cleaned and squeezed into what remaining space I have in my shed. Hose pipes are stashed away protected from any frosts.
Rose pruning
Wellyman helped me tame my climbing rose, ‘Shropshire Lad’. I normally prune roses in late winter but this climber had got a bit unruly this summer and was sprawling all over the place. As I was a little worried that any strong winds would damage the plants I thought I’d tackle it now. It was only meant to get to 8ft at the most but had stems at 10ft and more reaching for the sky. I guess it’s happy where it is. Wellyman is normally a little reticent when it comes to pruning. I’m a bit more gung-ho but, strangely it was hubby that was saying, ‘I think we might as well take that stem out too’. Although it can be a little worrying when you see the pile of plant debris on the ground and you wonder if you’ve been a bit too brutal.
I’ve still got jobs to do, of course. I’ll wait until the frosts have knocked back the herbaceous perennials before I tidy some of them up and I still have some flowers in the beds at the allotment which might well be gone completely by the start of next week. But, on the whole, the garden feels like it has been wrapped up for winter. Now it’s me that needs wrapping up.
I too was keen this week to put the allotment to bed. I managed a bit but failed to cut back the autumn raspberries and to mulch them and the asparagus with the contents of the compost bins. I hope the weather reverts to mild and dry to get those chores done.
It’s certainly chilly here today, I think the winter coat might be putting in an appearance soon. Hubby did lots of jobs in the garden last weekend to get things tidied up, but there’s always more to do. Parts of the allotment have been dug over ready for the frost to break down the clods of earth, but more still needs to be done. It’s been a waiting game really as it’s had standing water on it from all the rain, and you just can’t dig when it’s in that condition. Well done to Wellyman for packing in those bulbs, he sounds just like my hubby.
Well done for getting on with the garden wrap up – it’s on my list of things to do and I’m hoping to get out into the garden this weekend for clearing, pruning and bulb planting. Although we’ve had leaden skies and mist this week, the temperatures have been mild; one afternoon, the sun actually shone! Needless to say, I was working. With you on the need for a 26 hour day, although I’d probably spend the extra 2 hours catching up on sleep!
Reblogged this on Neat and True Veg.
oh dear it snowing!
oops sorry for the typo – cold fingers
I too have just finished moving my tender plants into the greenhouse. The next job will be wrapping up the tender climbers that can’t be brought in. A couple of years ago I thought global warming would put an end to all this palaver but it seems I was too optimistic :-)
It’s a busy time of year, and a constant race against time and the weather as it nearly always is with gardening.
That many daffs were a bargain, and should look good next spring. xx
Hehe. The sense of mild panic and urgency can be sensed across the country at this time of year. And congrats to WM for rising to the daffodil challenge. Dave
I did a quick inventory this morning also, night temps are in the 20’s steady for the weeks forcast–no more warm ups. I still have a few things to tuck away…
Hope all goes well!
Have been rushing round here too WW and was thinking that I had cracked it until the middle of last night, when I remembered that my chocolate cosmos was still exposed to the freezing elements. I decided to stay in bed rather than mount a rescue operation.Glad to hear to hear that you have work projects on the go but hope that you are having a breather this weekend. Well done to WM on the bulb buying – he sounds a most logical man.
You’re reminding me that I have lots of work ahead of me; a little behind you with the cold weather but this weekend has been very windy and the first time I’ve felt chilly! Christina