Spring And I Are Nearly Sprung

Like many things I like to grow, I've been quietly hibernating since last Autumn.

Well, by that, I don't mean literally gorging myself, hiding in a cave, slowing my heartbeat and going into a semi-comotose state while simultaneously devouring my fat reserves (now that part, I wish).

No, I mean I've just been plodding along through the depths of winter, getting up 6am in the dark, working dawn to dusk in the much-maligned public sector, coming home again at 6pm in the dark, spending the evenings munching on (probably more than I care to admit to) packets of Bombay Mix and downing (probably more than I care to admit to) glasses of red wine in front of (probably more than I care to admit to) way too much TV. Talking of which, increasingly throwing (probably more than I care to admit to) my slippers at said TV at the rot and nonsense spewing from assorted politicians mouths, in a middle-eastern fashion of disdain or disgust.

Yeah, specifically, anytime David Cameron, Nick Clegg or  George Osbourne try to justify any of the drastic public sector cuts they are making. Anything that impacts on or damages the arts, museums or libraries is of particular significance and importance to me at the moment.

But on a more personal note, for the last few months, it seems that weekends have been all about about catching up on housework or DIY.

But as the month of February marches on, I'm feeling the sap rising once again, and along with the urge to haul myself back down to the gym, there is the need to start planting seeds again and get things growing. But equally I feel the urge to get my arty expressive juices flowing once again.

This year I have a second new half-plot to develop on the allotment (though it's been too wet and muddy since November to be able to do much yet). But more importantly, thanks to completed DIY projects at home I've finally been able to turn a room over to become an art studio.

I cannot begin to express what an utter joy this is....  it's been about 16 years since I last had a dedicated space to make art - a space that isn't really normally a kitchen or living room, so needs everything tidying away at the end of a painting or drawing session.

To get myself back into the regular habit of drawing and painting (so yes, I confess to spending several weeks so far looking at the room with a great deal of trepidation and a not a small amount of fear, noodling about in my "studio", pretty much terrified of all the clean paint brushes and white paper and blank canvasses I've lined up) I'm determined to spend some time in there every single day drawing or painting anything at all - anything just to get the creative sap flowing again. To get going again after what amounts to several years of doing very little creative work (bar this blog which I started last year to kick-start myself drawing again), I've promised myself I will spend at least 30 minutes a day in there doing something/anything creative.

Obviously, I have more time at the weekends.  I bought myself an assortment of yellow flowers this week to paint, so I've been struggling with that today. I quickly realised that it really is almost impossible to paint sumflowers without referencing Van Gogh. But his work is always such a pleasure to look at (I had been reading about him recently, which might've influenced my choice in flowers?) so I got some books of his work out and couldn't but help making the sunflowers I was trying to paint even more Van Gogh-y in style than than the painting was going to be anyway. But his work is such complete joy to look at, and a real challenge to even attempt to emulate.

But besides all of this, seeing as how March and April are the key months for getting seedlings going, I'm just duty bound to end up drawing and sketching these...

Think I'm going potty

I'm living in conditions where I can't do anything without first considering the health, safety & wellbeing of hundreds of plants scattered throughout the house, hogging all the light coming in through the windows. Cannot open windows without moving trays of tomatoes & chillies. Cannot boil the kettle for tea without shifting aubergines. Cannot wash up without relocating the cucumber seedlings. And as for watching TV... well, let's just say that gymnastics are involved.


And that's just indoors. Out in the back garden there are the 2 mini 4-tier greenhouses to consider. Temperatures are warming up nicely now, so I noticed at the beginning of the week that everything was starting to look a bit wilty - so fresh air being the order of the day, each morning before heading out to work I unzip these, and I zip them back up of an evening when I get home.

I also have to remember to top up the food on the bird table. Two enormous big-bellied wood pigeons (is it me, or do they have teeny weeny heads?) have started visiting daily and gorging themselves on the seed that I put out for their smaller cousins. They're a bit of a pest and I don't like to encourage them - but now I'm on a chain-gang of endless seed provision, or my brassicas will get it in the neck.

Time to take some of this hardier stuff down to the plot this weekend - the 10-day forecast looking good, so worth taking a punt at planting some of it out now.

Crunch Point

My windowsills are now groaning under the weight of seedlings reaching for the light and I'm starting to feel like I'm looking at the world through a pair of green-tinted spectacles. Obviously space is limited (I don't live in a giant greenhouse, nor do I have a house with full plate-glass shop windows). So an interesting hierarchy of favouritism is developing. Tomatoes aubergines & chillies are all top dog in my house - right there living it up on the window sills. But I foolishly also sowed a few squashes & pumpkins - take a quiet moment to watch these, and they grow right in front of your eyes like stop-animation of the kind you see on a nature programme. Oh Lordy, I am undone.


I confess, the pansies (first time I've ever grown these from seed - previous years I've always bought these each spring as plug plants) are probably furthest from a window - indeed, they're currently sitting on a kitchen work surface in front of the boiler. These are (oh, how embarrassing to admit this) more leggy than Elle Mcpherson (or some other 6ft giantess 1980s supermodel type with pins insured for a million dollars). If my pansies were people they would look like this.

How will these survive? As soon as they go outside, one gentle hint of a breeze and they'll be over like a teen that's had one too many alchopops - stems snapped & dead as a dodo.

What to do?

Methinks a re-shuffling is in order. A trip to the pound shop is to be had on Monday, for half a dozen nasty plastic 12" pots. Squashes are going to have to take their chances down at the allotment shed. I call it a shed. Actually, it's more of a summer house affair with plenty of windows, frequently used as target-practice by the local yoofs roaming the allotments on a Saturday night (good grief - is that really the best idea they can come up with to entertain themselves?). Glass windows are pane-by-pane being replaced with perspex. Hopefully, before the final piece of glass is broken whatever the yoofs are lobbing at my windows will bounce off the perspex and donk them right back. Right back atcha.

Keep on Digging

And the digging goes on, whenever the weather holds off and earth is dry enough to allow us to continue. Luckily, unless saturated, 2 or 3 dry days is enough.

We're about three quarters done - just the final quarter to go. It's where I'm planning to put my potatoes, so reckon we've got another 4 weeks to get through it.

It's March in 2 weeks time - it'll be time to start sowing in earnest. I look at the sowing calender I've made, and although every window sill is already covered with seedlings or chitting tatties, I've got the motherload of stuff waiting to get started next month. Here's hoping for a mild spell of weather so once seedlings show, I can harden things off and get stuff shifted outside to the 4-tier greenhouse relatively quickly.

Chilli & Chitting

Sowed a number of chilli seeds mid-Jan in a heated propogater - these are popping up nicely. Have a mixture of indoor and outdoor plants. May try one or two up at the allotment, though think conditions may be too exposed up there. Will mainly have them in my back garden. I've never been a huge fan of eating chilli till a holiday to Mexico last year - suddenly I got chilli.






I return from work anxiously each evening expecting to find a parcel of seed potatoes ordered back in November, but still no sign. But found & purchased 3 varieties in a local pound shop yesterday. Ok, these are not exactly the varieties that I'd spent careful hours selecting & choosing on the basis of reported disease resistance, taste and productivity, but at least I now have something chitting on my windowsills.

Spring is just around the corner

Seedlings sown at the beginning of January are coming along very nicely indeed. Started All The Year Round cauliflower and Summer Purple Sprouting Broccoli indoors 3 seeds to a pot on a windowsill at the very beginning of January, and last week potted them up individually and put them outside in the mini-greenhouse. They look as though they are flourishing.

I also have some onion seeds sown (Supasweet and Red Baron) which I also sowed 3 per module, and potted up individually last week at the same time as the caulis & broccoli when they were at the hairpin stage. But as I also have lots of sets either in or waiting to plant, will be interesting to see which do better this year.




At the same time, also sowed some aubergine seeds (Moneymaker F1). But I will be keeping these indoors for a while yet - and may move them to the mini-greenhouse in spring. Might give one a try down at the allotment, but I suspect they'll be happier in my protected back garden.








Spent a little time having a close look at what else is happening in the garden. The Fatsia Japonica has flowered, and is well on it's way to turning to seed....







Chive shoots are beginning to show. This plant is in a plastic pot, which is sat in a solid-bottomed pot with no drainage holes. I keep meaning to take it out if the pot so the water can drain away, and cannot believe that after 6 years the bulbs haven't rotted away as it does sit in water most of the year. But, as they say, if it ain't broke...





And Hazel. Excuse the large photo, but it really is a beauty. One of those plants that is at it's best in the winter months.