Sunday, January 24, 2016

Is it Spring?

January is supposed to be the coldest month but it has been for the most part mild, the garden certainly seems to think it is spring,
our first daffodil is out, but no sign of the snowdrops in bloom, they should have been out before the daffodils,
 roses have continued to flower all winter
and we have rhubarb almost ready for picking.

There is quite a lot of colour in the garden however there is no sign of the Camellias blooming, they have buds, but at the same stage as they were last October,
  I hope we don't get a sudden cold snap and everything gets set back which is what happened last year.
We were determined that we would not plant seeds too early this year, however broad beans take a while to get going and will stand well in their modules if the weather takes a turn for the worse, we looked at our seed supply to find we only had a dozen broad bean seeds left so a visit to the garden centre was called for, this was a mistake, one packet of seeds would have been fine, but we ended up spending the best part of fifty euros, a visit to a garden centre is always a mistake, and I didn't even look at plants. I normally order our seeds on line but we didn't need that many replacement seeds this year. We have however got the seed potatoes, four different varieties, plus five packets of vegetable seeds and two free packets of Snowball cauliflower. The broad beans are now being pre-germinated, no point in wasting potting compost. Leaks, Cauliflower and Brussels sprouts will be started next month, not too far away now. It seems a long time since we were planting anything, I think we are suffering from itchy planting fingers. The garden is more or less ready for planting, empty beds were fed with compost and then covered, hopefully the worms will have done the rest. Just a light hoe and the ground should be ready to go.
The heritage carrots that we grew last year have been a big disappointment, they grew well but they lack flavour, they might look pretty on the plate but we like things with good flavour, we wont be growing them again. Garlic and onions are looking good, again we are hopeful of a good crop this year. The grass has continued to grow throughout the winter, and most of the local farmers have kept their cattle out, it really has been so unusually mild.
The incubator has been taken out of mothballs and set with quail eggs, they are due to hatch on Wednesday, the first hatch of the season.

10 comments:

  1. You must be in a sunny pocket, we only have a few clumps Snowdrops at present.

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    1. Not really a sunny pocket but we do face south.

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  2. Warm here too. I tried planting a few roses and there was standing water at the bottom of the first two holes. Decided to wait.

    Where did you get seed potatoes in Spain? We´ve got a couple of small heads of broccoli and a lovely little cabbage in the veg patch. Chuffed! The onion seeds didn´t do anything so I´m going to by starts at the farmer´s market.

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    1. We used to get our main crop potatoes from the Ag.store in Baralla, the variety was Kennebec, they were quite a nice spud, waxy rather than floury. There is also a good ag.store in Monforte de lemos, Rua Roberto Baamonde, near Plaza do Pineiro, they sell seed potatoes, seeds and veg plugs plus much more. I also suspect that Leroy Merlin would have seed potatoes as they stock a good range of organic seeds and have bags of compost + peat outside. One year we bought Charlotte eating potatoes from a supermarket, I think it was Carrefour, we chitted them then planted that worked fine. The farmers market in Lugo used to have a very good plant stall where you could buy trays of veg, all certified organic.

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  3. You'd certainly think it was spring, wouldn't you? There's so much colour around and it's getting warmer rather than colder. I think we're in for another batch of rain here though, Yorkshire is on flood alert again but it's quite bright today, for a change.

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    1. Bright and sunney here as well Jo, we are off out for a drive, too good a day to miss.

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  4. Similar story here, Anne. In a friend's car in Laois over the weekend his dashboard was saying 15 degrees C at about 9 pm at night! Crazy stuff. Our first daff opened just today. More rain tomorrow though, they say.

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    1. It will stop raining sometime Matt, if we keep telling ourselves that it will happen.

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  5. Quite a lot of colour in the garden already! I think you did well to go to a garden centre and only come out 50 euros down..it is your vice after all! xx

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  6. Yes, and book shops, and craft shops, I should never be allowed near them.

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