Kitchen Garden Forum

Yes it is late arriving to stay, but the snowdrops, daffodils and catkins gave been and gone.
Here in eastern Hertfordshire we're thinking of trialing the;

Fred Splatt method of potato planting.

Set out a straight line on your plot
Put seed potatoes in a trug.
Wearing wellies walk the line with short strides carrying the trug
Each stride throw a potato firmly at the ground about six inches in front of your left foot
Listen for the slurp from the clay as the spud is swallowed
At the end of the line set marker canes
Then start the next row..

My soil wasn't too bad when I planted mine today, added a bit of farmyard manure for good measure.

I like your optimism, Peter!
It snowed hard here until noon - wet, sloppy stuff, and now it's mostly gone around us but still lying on the hills on either side. The beck is rather noisily rushing through the village and I wouldn't be surprised if the village gets marooned overnight. Certainly no gardening weather .....
The heater in the greenhouse (the thermostat is set at 12C) stayed on all day.

Weird day yesterday. Almost ¾" of precipitation, wet snow/sleet at first with the temperature little above freezing then rain later. As it went dark the temperature rose with the maximum of 6.2 at midnight. Certainly undone all the good drying of the last few days, pleased I had put cloches over where I want to sow carrots and parsnips in the next couple of weeks.
I agree, greenhouse heating is costing a fortune this year.

The soil must still be very cold as there is still a layer of snow despite all the heavy rain. The onion setts are still waiting to be planted.

I put some cloches in another part of the garden and found my cat using them as a shelter for toilet and ambush for wildlife. Must put the ends on and make a note to not put salad or root crops there because of the cat poo.

Feels warm here this morning with a forecast of 14 deg. But more rain tomorrow

Well my tatties have been well watered over night

Plum, when I had a cat he loved the cloches as he got older, I,d usually leave the ends open and he would just wander in, stretch out and sunbathe or snooze out of the wind. He looked so comfortable I rarely had the heart to disturb him, especially as he seemed convinced they were put there purely for his benefit!

About time! Even us down south have struggled this year. Does a hard winter mean a good summer? Should I lay the hose down the fence & get ready for the water wars?

If i could predict that i wouldn't be a gardener, Westi.....actually, I probably still would be....

It's been raining all night and still is , I think it's time to build another boat

that made me smile Robo. With all that rain coming down I wonder that Noah had time to sex all his paired animals before he got them onto the Ark. I be there were a few mistakes.
I hope no Water utility is contemplating a hosepipe ban this summer. I should imagine by the time the current rainfalls have drained into the water courses most reservoirs should be pretty full.

it started off lovely and bright this morning, but the clouds have blown in, it is now very windy and the sky is looking menacing. More rain is forecast for this afternoon. At least it's a bit warmer today. It's a dangerous trek to the bottom of the garden where the greenhouse is. The lawn is very slippery with mud, and the stepping stones barely visible under the quagmire

Primrose - re your Noah reference, there was a very subtle cartoon I saw in a paper. Line of animals in pairs waiting to board ark. A pair of horses are introducing themselves to a pair of unicorns: "Hi, I'm Robert and this is Anne" Unicorn: "Hi, I'm Bill and this is Jack."

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