Kitchen Garden Forum

After months of heavy soil and wet grass, it is finally dry enough to enjoy outside gardening here.

I have already heard the first complaints that it is too dry and am waiting for complaints soon that it's too hot.

I know we in Wales are a hard lot to please, but I would have thought a bit of dry in this wet land would have been welcome.

Anyone else hearing similar complaints?

Alan

Dear Alan, i have heard no such complaining yet, but i bet it won't be long before i do.

Hope it doesn't get too hot today.

Well, I'm complaining for one! But it really is dry over here. We haven't had any decent rain for weeks. The soil is cracked on the flower beds and I think I'll have to water already. We had the same last year and it ruined the raspberry crop.
However, having said, the weather is truly gorgeous!

I'm not complaining, but I did have to water my helibores yesterday as they had fallen flat to the floor. As for the allotment, the top layer of soil is very dry and it takes a sustained bashing with a spade/rake to break up some of the bigger lumps when raking over a bed. Go a couple of inches down and the soil is just perfect.

Another glorious day starting here and I'm off to the plot to plant the rest of the spuds before it gets too hot.

This weekend last year was wet with rain snow and hail. So I'm certainly counting my blessings

Alan

I think it has got very hot too quick that's why we are surprised, no room to aclimatize me thinks.

The dry winds have dried off the top of the soil but underneath it is still a bit pudding like in places hereabouts.

No rain forecast for a few days yet here

Let it stay dry and warm just a little longer - I have 3 North Ronaldsay ewes yet to lamb and they are refusing to come inside.

It's the start of another spectacularly gorgeous day in Rugby so I'm about to go to the plot.

I did notice that one patch of ground that I've not yet touched has cracks over the surface which is unusual for this time of year. However, I suspect it is just the surface and when I move the soil it will be fine underneath.

There's no rain forecast here until around 18th April and my hellebores have flumped again Still, as Alan says, last year it was snowing at Easter so let's count our blessings.

Dear Chantal, i happen to quite like snow.

the top couple of inches of my soil are rock hard lumps. So much so that I've resorted to bashing them with a hammer to try to break them up. I wonder what the assembled sages would recommend as a mulch - bark chippings, compost (peat free, of course) or manure. I'm afraid that my stash of horse manure is nowhere near ready though
I think I shall invest in a tumbler to speed up the process.

Dear Lynne, a little tip that i used to do with my soil years ago when it used to get lumpy at this time of the year, when the lumps have baked hard, soak them with water, let them nearly dry on the outside, then knock them about with what ever tool you prefer, hopefully you should find the lumps crumble easily to a friable crumb.
Hope this might help.

As for your sage, they would love a mulch of small shingle.

I was surpised with my soil. Normally, it's really heavy clay but the top 3-4" are quite dry and very easy to work. Great for me.

Further down it's still very damp and it's ready for planting on.

Can't wait to plant out now. Ooooh, isn't it exciting? I love spring and seed planting, and seeing the blossom on the trees, bright green shoots everywhere. Brilliant.

But then again, maybe I'm easily pleased

Dear Lizzie, you certainly see things that a lot of people miss, and i do mean that in a nice way.

Hi Herby

What's the point in anything if you won't stop to smell the flowers?

I even saw a woodpecker the other week, working on the nest. Today, I saw a little head pop out looking for its mum. The Harris Hawks were around again too. Swans have also started to nest on the banks of the river, together with the ducks so there will be little ones everywhere soon.

I like looking at things, even a worm is beautiful, just depends on how you view the world I suppose. My son got a toy at Christmas call Antlantis and it's brilliant. It's a kit thing where the kids plant grass in little containers, hatch out triops and the backdrop is "Ant City" Ants are so amazing, the way they have made the nest and corridors in the unti is brilliant. We watch them more than the tv They're more interesting

Raining lightly here.
Not warm.

Flowers are beautiful.. our 1/10th price daffs ex Focus - surplus stock - are boootiful (about 100 mixed daffs for £1..)

Robins courting: male offering female a few titbits.

Wrens singing their hearts out - so much noise from such a small bird.
And our local pheasant (whom I suspect was hand reared by someone) honks in the field behind and occasionally visits us. It's cupboard love: he will come within 1 metre if you have food:-)

I washed our white 5 barred gate: as usual next morning the lower rung was muddy: it's that darn badger... he/she has a routine: into our garden: morning toilet under the buddleia (the holes, the smell!), walk round the bird table looking for nuts and then out into the yard and through the gate (I followed his/her tracks in the snow: same pattern the past 20 odd years - probably not the same one tho).. We used to wonder where all our wire peanut feeders went until late at night we saw a badger breaking one open..now they are stainless steel squirrel and badger proof.

The squirrels are practising their trapeze acts up and down the trees...

Spring is so interesting after the winter:-)