Sow what?
March and April are the best and worst of times for us garden designers. The best of times because orders for garden designs are in and garden builds are being scheduled. The worst of times because there just aren’t enough hours in the day, and my own poor neglected garden once again has to take a back seat.
Last year we had Big Plans for our garden. We were aiming to have everything redesigned and installed in time for my birthday party in early September. Unfortunately, for our garden if not for the business, the work of paying customers took priority, so we ended up with a half-finished garden. Pond footings were laid but the pond is not yet dug out; trellis has been erected but there are no plants climbing through it; and newly marked out vegetable beds still sit there, undug.
So, whilst drawing garden plans, drafting contracts, sourcing products and suppliers, talking to the accountants, creating advertising, booking advertising, posting leaflets and writing this blog (and alongside and normal duties of wife, mother and taxi service to teenagers) I shall endeavour this week to plant out some vegetables and start nurturing my garden back to life.
We’re not lucky enough to own a greenhouse. We have the space for a small one (if anyone local reading this has one they no longer need we’d gladly give it a new home!), so we have to make do with limited window sill space if we want to get on with sowing crops like basil, beetroot, celery and tomatoes. Anything we pot up indoors is also fighting for space with two cats, who treat sunny window sills as their own personal space, and several egg boxes full of seed potatoes. I suppose it gets the seedlings used to fighting for nutrients later in life!
For us, the better option is to stick to crops which can be sown straight into the soil. I have onions lined up, which will sit nicely alongside our only surviving winter crop, the spring onions planted last autumn. I’m also going to give carrots another try, after last year’s dismal performance which saw us harvest a crop of 1 carrot, which measured 1 inch long by half an inch wide! And primed, ready for sowing, are parsnips, peas and lettuce, with cauliflower and broccoli waiting until it gets a bit warmer. Our garden is not particularly well sheltered, so we’ll be protecting everything with horticultural fleece and recycled PVC bottles. But if last year is anything to go by it will soon be early May and if we don’t get on with it now we’ll have no crops at all come early summer.
Changing the subject completely… I’m really excited about Mothers’ Day this year. Not because of the relaxing day I’ve no doubt had arranged for me by my darling children (yeah right!), but because I’m going to see profesional ballroom dancers and stars of Strictly Come Dancing, Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova. They are performing at the Assembly Rooms, Derby on Sunday, and Keith and I have ringside seats. I can’t wait, and I’m sure Keith can’t either, although he did mutter something about Manchester United and Fulham which I didn’t quite catch.