Planning the Plot

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Homesown@thedevelopingplot

Despite being warned by the two fat rain drops which sequenced their way through the whole day on the weather forecast, today was the day I met with my plant stall partner and friend to discuss our plans for the year and for her first visit to the plot. We had agreed we could be hardy and wouldn’t be worried by rain, but decided to discuss our flower plans over coffee and biscuits first.

We agreed that the farmers’ market focus for this year would be on the patch and flowers. Any small plants not put in the patch can be sold alongside the bunches of flowers on our stall. Meanwhile the 100 achillea cerise queen, 60 odd cornflowers and white foxgloves will be on sale from our first stall in early March.

The driving rain had gathered in a disconcerting pool at the bottom of the road which turns to the plot. IMG_0635[3]

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A Slowly Developing Plot

Posted on February 14, 2015 by Homesown@thedevelopingplot

It looked promising today, despite heavy rain last night,  it was a  misty morning with a sense of the sun waiting to come through. So I set off to the plot to see what damage the cold and wet had done. Very squelchy underfoot, but the honesty is still looking green and alive as are the late planted cornflowers. The Achillea Cerise Queen seem to have taken a battering and are puny and pitiful, but I have seen them look this way at the allotment before they recovered and flourished later in the year. So I am hopeful. Anyway, I have at least 100 spare plants surviving in little pots…

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Just some of the 100 achillea plants waiting until spring

Didn’t do much at the plot apart from enjoy the brief sunshine, put down some paths with weed suppressing membrane and a bit of lackadaisical weeding. At the first hint of gentle rain went home.

This idea of tracking the progress of my developing plot  is not as original as I thought. Visiting one of my favourite websites today, I noticed that Ben Runyard at Higgledy Garden is writing about a new cut flower patch from scratch with exactly the same dimensions as mine: 15 metres by 10 metres.  I can compare his expert public progress with my amateur experiments and learn at the same time.

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Potting on and Planting Seeds

Posted on February 8, 2015 by Homesown@thedevelopingplot

Today the sun shone and promised Spring and it felt the ideal time to pot plants on and sow more sweetpeas. Some of the last lot planted two weeks ago are looking quite lank and leggy, but hard treatment in the chilly cold frame hasn’t seemed to kill them and might toughen them up.Planted out my last packets of Royal Wedding, Mollie Rilestone, Beaujolais and Black Knight. The last pots are half labelled and half mystery – that is the haphazardness that I can’t quite properly say goodbye to yet. So the labelled can be sold on our Farmer’s Market stalls and the unlabelled can be planted in my developing plot to be sold as cut flowers later. Well, that’s the theory, though as last year think the proper job might get in the way.

sweet peas being given tough love

sweet peas being given tough love

The plan is to carry on the sale of plants at various local farmers markets, but also to plant the leftovers on the patch to make sure nothing gets thrown on the compost. However, not sure there is enough room or a big enough market for the 100 small Achillia Cerise Queen I have grown …

Potted on the Knautia into bigger pots and despite the frost and wet they seem perky. The 80 odd moth mullein plantlets don’t look so happy, but might liven up with more light and warmth in a few weeks time.

The neglected bulbs lurking in the porch have been mostly planted (in any empty pots I could find) and might not be completely wasted. Even if the daffodils only flower next year.

Salvias and penstemon cuttings are surviving under cold cover too.

A hopeful day!

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