So, just to show that no one year in the UK bears any relationship
to the last, it was the warmest
 December for ages.
It may not be directly relevant to gardening, but here is a photo of
our solar panels. They certainly help to keep the greenhouse warm
via its electric heater.
Note the heavy fall of hail on the ground; about the only bit of cold weather at the end of 2011.
We had a cold spell at the beginning of February, but that did not
last too long, March was beautifully warm and dry and April started
off cold, so we shall see what
else transpires. The South east of England have hose pipe bans in
early April.
In mid March I bought a polytunnel, which I put up in the
allotment and in March, put in strawberries, broad beans and
lettuces. Then added some French beans. Not quite sure how pollination is supposed to work in a
polytunnel, so I cut some windows. The strawberries started to bloom
before March was out.
Vegetables - potatoes
I planted lots of Anya and Charlotte in the second week in
March in open ground in the allotment. Starting to appear at the
beginning of April, just in time for some frost.
Vegetables - greens
Some Pak Choi survived overwinter and I cut some during the cold
weather. Doesn't seem to taste of much! A b it like a non-bitter
spinach. The sprouts over-wintered well and have lasted well into
March, though went off in mid-March. In early March I sowed a lot of greens in the greenhouse
and planted on cauliflowers and broccoli. I also bought some young
summer cauliflower plants to plant in the polytunnel. Yes, I do love cauliflowers,
but find the summer ones so hard to grow. The picture to the left is
in early April; the plum blossom was out. Have sown leeks in pots
and they started to emerge towards the end of March.
Vegetables - legumes
The frozen beans, from last year, are not doing too well, but
the bean chutney is lovely. The overwintering Aquadulce seem to be
survived well this year and were beginning to
flower at the beginning of March! In mid February I sowed
broad beans (exhibition green longpod) and peas in the greenhouse,
some of which (Meteor) I planted out into the polytunnel. Also sowed
more in the greenhouse in mid March. Also sowed a short row of The
Sutton in the garden to see how they would do. I like broad beans
too!
As I mentioned above I planted a two rows of dwarf French beans in the polytunnel,
a long row of the purple ones, which seem to do well here.
Vegetables - roots
The parsnips overwintered well, though they are very odd shapes
and not very productive because of this. Taste OK though. We had
some for Christmas. I bought some carrot seedlings in mid March to
try to get a row set up early in the season. Bought and planted out
a row of carrots in the third week in March. Covered them with close
netting. Also sowed parsnips in root trainers in the greenhouse.
Salads
I grew some winter lettuce in grow bags over winter and planted
the survivors out into the garden in mid March. Also sowed some lettuce in the greenhouse in
early March. Also bought some plants, which I sowed in the polytunnel. The Pak Choi I grew in gro-bags were enjoyed by a slug
or two, though a few survived. They still look very small. Sowed
tomato plants into gro-bags in mid March, together with aubergines
and courgettes. They seemed to be very slow in doing anything, so I
chucked them out and bought tomato plants (Shirley and Gardener's
Delight) to put in the polytunnel and greenhouse.
Also bought some sweet pepper plants and a couple of aubergines.
Very expensive 'grafted' variety. We will see if the money is worth
it. Also sowed some aubergines.
Fruit
The cherry trees came into flower in mid-March. No sign of plum
blossom yet.
 Others
The sweetcorn did not freeze so well this year. I froze it early
on, thinking it would be sweeter. Perhaps that was the mistake.
We decided to turn the front lawn into a wildflower garden. We
have not weedkilled or fed this lawn for a number of years. The lawn
was mown high to start with. Then we took up some crescents of turf
and mowed a wiggly path around the outside, then planted wildflower
plugs and sowed seed in the bare patches. My mother would have
described it as 'planting weeds in the lawn' I guess! The photo on
the left is in early March, when we have just put in some plugs.
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