Wednesday 22 January 2014

What's going on in the garden

We've had a few hours of sunlight each morning before the inevitable downpour of rain. There has been no work done in the garden since the car crash last October and there's a great deal of catch-up needed. I usually lift and divide some of the perennials in the border and try to remove strands of the dreaded bindweed and even more troublesome ground elder every the autumn, but there was no chance of that last year. Yesterday I took a look at the messy beds, took out my new secateurs and cut off all the old plant growth. It started to make things look a bit more promising.
There were plenty of fresh shoots hiding under the old foliage.
But the garden is an unedifying sight at this time of year.
Crops in the vegetable plot are getting thin and looking very rain battered, but we've eaten well from them, so no complaints. Plenty of sprouts and a few red cabbage to go.
The parsnips are starting to re-sprout - should I dig them all up now? And, as you can see, no-one wants to eat the Swiss chard!
The rhubarb looks quite promising. I've put one plant under the forcer.
The 'Meyer' lemon in the greenhouse is a mass of fruit. The citrus trees struggle throughout the winter months, the leaves get covered in sooty mould and scale insects are a problem.
Like me they are unhappy in the cold and damp!
I wrap them up in fleece on cold nights. I would hate anything to happen to the 'Meyer' as it was a present from my father about twenty-five years ago. The other citrus trees I've brought back from holidays abroad.
A major drawback is that the greenhouse attached to the house is in the shadow of our neighbours' trees throughout the winter when the sun is low. The aerial shot below was taken last September and the greenhouse, bottom left, is hidden by the deep shade of the blue cedars.
There's a bit of old carpet on one of the vegetable beds - I wish I had more. It's a great weed suppressant, I can just roll back the carpet when spring comes and the soil will be ready for planting!

16 comments:

  1. I love the structure and design of your garden. I am completely exposed on all sides by too-close neighbors and a short fence. My garden is a dormant blob of nothingness right now. Thanks for the fleece idea but I think the sleeping bags saved my shrubs, although they looked hideous. I'm hoping they'll make it through our latest round of unusually Arctic air. Our temps dropped 50 degrees when a storm came through! Love that lemon tree! So colorful and full of life. :)

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    1. The lemon tree is very precious to me and I'll be picking fruit soon and eating lemon curd!
      We have neighbours very close to our south side, cropped out in the photo above. (The owners of the very large trees!) I'll post some other photos sometime to give you a clearer idea of the layout.

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  2. Lovely! So jealous and loving the pics!

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    1. It's mostly mud, not so glorious mud at the moment, Wendy! (But I'll hope to make you jealous in the summer when the flowers are in bloom!)

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  3. Your Meyer Lemons look fabulous. Sad that your neighbor’s trees are Blue Spruce as they are a species that when topped will destroy the look of the tree.

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    1. The spruce are HUGE but I would hate to have them topped, they would look butchered.

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  4. Oh your garden. YOUR GARDEN!!!!!! We finally have a yard for the first time in a long time. It needs help but I am only in the wander around muttering Hmmmmmm phase. So wish I could fly you over here for a bit of in person gardening advice. Wouldn't that be fun?

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    1. It would be great, Connie, just to fly over. I'm not, however, especially knowledgeable or skilled at gardening, just naively appreciative and optimistic about of what succeeds in growing!

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  5. I'm so envious to see signs of life in your garden. I think that's my favorite time of year when things start peeking out from under the dirt. Mine is covered in snow which is hopefully protecting things from the -15 temperatures.

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    1. If snow is coming here it will probably be next month and will then give the garden a bit of a shock. -15 sounds very grim so it's a good job that you are fully occupied indoors, Steve!

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  6. Golly do you have a green thumb! love the lemon tree :)

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  7. No green thumb but rather messy nails. I start off in gardening gloves but always seem to end up without them. The Meyer lemon is not as sharp as other varieties with quite a distinctive flavour. I love it very much, both for it's generous crop and it's association with my father.

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  8. The first two images of your garden look like out of a fairytale, wondrous! Wished I could knock on your garden gate and ask for a basketful of Swiss chard, I love it. I have a recipe for pasta with Swiss chard, red onions, and pine nuts, from Marzella Hazan, that I love. Could eat it every day! The Meyer lemon tree is a treat, love their delicate, but strong fragrance.

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  9. Hello Merisi, and welcome. Please can I have the details of your recipe, I have all those ingredients to hand! My chard has been in the ground for months now and I don't know whether it will be rather tough. When it first cropped Himself complained that it tasted too earthy.

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  10. A lemon tree... what a cool concept :) .all my plants are starting to show more signs of life!!!


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