Start of the season
By csarina
7 comments
We paid several visits to the garden during the bad weather. Last month we started back and have pruned the raspberries and are now doing the apple trees. We have the pears trees to do, the plum trees will get a haircut later, and we have to look at the fig and peach trees too.
We have heeled in some fruit bushes in the poly tunnel and have carrots, french beans, turnip and radish sown in there. We have Anya potato’s chitting in one greenhouse and Dunbar reds in the other, tomato’s and sweetcorn on their way. We have seeds coming on in the house and just this week I have planted seeds in our greenhouse. There is more garlic, shallots and red onions to go in. The fennel I left to go to seed put up four bulbs round the base, so I dug the root up and took the bulbs off. We had 4 lettuce ’escape; when we pulled out the remains of what I had sown, we had one for supper tonight. The bed has been prepared for the climbing beans.
The gardener kindly rotovated the main bed for us which was a great help, especially as my arthritis has been playing up recently. It was a lovely surprise when we arrived this week to find the bed ready to sow. I planted some strawberry plants we had growing in a bag in the back, I watered and hoed the bed and also watered and weeded the onions and garlic we put in during November.
I have a bucket over the rhubarb, its doing very nicely thank you, as is the comfrey. I am hoping to have a rhubarb crumble shortly.
This will be our first full season and we are looking forward to it.
14 Mar, 2012
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Comments
As soon as I saw the rhubarb coming through I put a black bucket over it, there are a few thisckish stalks, in a couple of weeks there should be enough for a crumble.
Once you have forced rhubarb like this and taken a couple of pickings you should not pick again that season, a good reason to have more than one clump. We have two one in the walled garden and one on the pear walk where the pear tress are. I had a look at that on Tuesday there is no sign of it coming through yet.
15 Mar, 2012
Sadly, our brave rhubarb crown, going strong for the past 5 snowy winters, has failed to emerge, and we fear we have lost it to the bad weather. We also seem to have lost red and whitecurrant bushes, but the blackcurrants are looking good, as are the prunings pushed into the soil last year: all sprouting and growing almost visibly.
15 Mar, 2012
Gattina,
Do not give up on your rhubarb yet, give it a few more weeks and see if it comes through.
15 Mar, 2012
I always forget when things make their appearance each year, and give them up for dead, so you are right, Csarina, I shan't hold the funeral just yet! I expected to see all the lily of the valley spikes, too, but these I doubt we shall see, since I noticed some pushing their way through in January, and those have obviously died with the cold. Very sad, they'd been brought from the UK by a friend.
15 Mar, 2012
Thanks for the advice csarina :) I didnt really know what I was doing but I had heard rumours about covering them up !! I have popped pots on for now as theyre not too big but will sort something better Sunday.
I have 3 plants so should keep me in rhubarb crumble for a little while, yummy.
16 Mar, 2012
Guess what's popped through the soil this afternoon, Csarina - my rhubarb! So you were right, and I found some of the lily of the valley spikes, too. Hooray!
16 Mar, 2012
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Wow busy day ! sounds like you will be having a lovely variety when its all ready.
How big is your rhubarb ?...mine is only just poking its head up and I wondered if I needed to cover it up or not!
15 Mar, 2012