What's looking rough in March 2013

(Something went wrong, reposted below)

 

As an antidote to the "What's Looking Good" thread, and to cheer you all up , here's what is looking rough in my garden at the moment.

The conservatory is a mess ... and a bit stuffed. I need to create some space for the plants I am raising from seed



Here's the view in the opposite direction:



and this is the Tomato greenhouse ... this lot is going to need to get shifted outside, or better still "planted", shortly:



mostly Hollies for the Maze, but also some Holm Oaks at the back, far right, which I'm going to plant as a circular hedge around the "Yew Gazebo". Quite a few Box in there too ...

There there is the Vegetable patch. Nothing has been done yet in preparation for the year ahead, whereas normally by now the soil is cultivated and ready - or something near to that:



On a slightly brighter note here's the snowdrop walk that I planted last year. The snowdrops actually look quite "clumpy", which is remarkable given that they were planted as "singles". Hopefully going to look rather smart in a few years time - of course the "rough looking" piles of hardcore, gravel and other junk will have been removed by then!

 

I could make this into a "Spot the ball" competition, eh?!!

The Purple leaved Ensetes were 1L plants last Spring and the bigger Musas' were seed-sown in Spring 2011

Decided to have a pair of Tree Ferns "line" the entrance into the Exotic garden. Got them standing on some bricks (rather than in the sump water) in some water butts to make it easy to hose them down, without flooding the conservatory, to get them jump-started - hopefully not too soon in these Arctic conditions!

Sadly covered in snow here too, the photo was taken a few days before the snow came. Blowing fairly here so it has drifted and has an icy-crust on it, rather than being light fluffy stuff. I've given the trees it lay on a bash as I reckon it is heavier than mid-Winter snow and bending the branches down more.

 

I promise myself not to nagging about the weather again , but this is one of the worst ever had in the greenhouse , lost many of my cactus and all happen in the last month ,
In act of desperation I`ve moved most of the hardy to -5 outdoor , finger cross they are ok .

Kristen where is your Mekong???? only see the basjoo .

one of the strange thing happen in my greehouse is that I`ve lost every single aeonium except for the arboreum , who actually grow up and many cactus have survived outside and not inside .

 

for a wander around Kristen. Things are patiently waiting for the GREEN GO LIGHT. It won't be too long now I think but your glimps at the vegetable garden speaks volumes. There are so many that look like this right now,
this is so testing our patience isn't it?
Jenny

 

The big'uns you are seeing are Musa sikkimensis; there is a Red Tiger, Basjoo, and something else I have forgotten, in there too, but down the end out of eye-line from the camera. The Basjoo will be planted out and left out this year.

 

I have seedlings under lights, they are fine of course ... but getting bigger and will need pricking out soon.

I have seedlings pricked out to 3" pots; not enough lights, not enough space indoors. Normally they go in Conservatory and then come in to utility room / corridor on chilly nights. They have been in the corridor for 3 days now as not enough heat, daytime, in conservatory ... they are not liking "really low light" very much ...

 

I have been thinking about pricking out to 1" cells, and then pot-on to 3" later, as that might enable me to have the more important things under lights ... 3" pots I would get less than 50 x 3" pots under a lighting 2' square lighting rig.

 

Your new way of thinking Kristen, in order to just keep things alive , must be reflected by so many of our local Nurseries that grow stuff for their livelihood. This reduced light and cold must be very stressful for them. I have one in mind that I have to contact soon ( it's a Charitable Trust for folks with Special needs) as I am due take a Gardening group there in mid April. Bless them, I am not relishing this phone conversation at all,
Jenny

 

What's looking rough? This is quite cathartic for me today !
I mean, no self respecting GC member would have stood at the kitchen sink, month after month looking at this would they?
Jenny

 

Crikey Kristen you're going to be busy when the warm weather eventually comes .
More patience than me planting the snowdrops individually, I planted 300 hundred a few years ago started off in 2's and 3's then got bored so 5's 7's 9's oh what the heck 10's 11's , trouble is they need splitting now .

 

Truth be told they weren't exactly "individuals". I stomped on the bulb planter and arranged 2 or 3 bulbs in the hole and around the "plug" as I put it back. Its definitely come up a lot "thicker looking" than I expected for first season though.

Indeed, can't begin to imagine where you might have got the photo from!

 

Great space you've got there, Kristen.

What kind of tomatoes are you going to grow this year? I've got a few "new to me" tomatoes to try, if only the weather would cooperate, nice to see the grass you've got too, I've still got alot of snow here, but it is melting, slowly but surely.

Make sure to post some pics when everything is planted