rhubarb,rhubarb,rhubarb.....

Weather: after a wet and cool few days this morning dawned bright and frosty.

We had the first rhubarb of the year as a rhubarb, ginger and almond crumble at the weekend. It was delicious - as all things from the garden are at this time of year when the flavour is enhanced by the sense of achievement. I never force my rhubarb but it must be an early variety because we always get a pretty early crop. The clump is over 15 years old and it pretty well looks after itself planted under the huge Crimson King Acer at the bottom of the garden just feet from a six foot wall so it gets pretty deep shade in the summer. The only thing I do is mulch it with homemade compost each January.

It was a busy weekend and I didn't get out into the garden - besides it was raining hard. Over and inch of rain on Saturday night. I have declared war on the slugs this year. I found the first small grey slug in the green house having feasted on some Basil seedlings so my campaign is now on. The first of three doses of slug Nematodes arrived in the post last week and are waiting in the fridge for the right conditions (and time) to apply it. The packet says water them on in the late afternoon/early evening and I've decided that tonight is the night! With Easter this weekend and the weather forecast gloomy it seems the perfect time as the soil must remain damp for the next week or so to get them settled in. That is where my last attempt with Nematodes (about 3 years ago) failed. As soon as I had them down the rain stopped falling and the soil dried out.

One of my big disappointments last year was that the slugs got all my runner and french bean plants. This year, Nematodes apart, I am giving them the classic start by digging a trench and filling it it with kitchen waste (a trick I learnt at Garden Organic when I was presenting a gardening feature on a radio show a year or two back). This is supposed, not only to enrich the soil but to help moisture retention. Before filling in my trench I also added a batch of shredded paper- mainly old credit card slips which has a pleasing ring! I can already taste the beans... The only drawback with the site is that part of the row ends up under the aforementioned Crimson King Acer which is a good 35ft high.

The sun is still out and I can spare an hour for gardening before I get down to proper work so I'm off....

Every things coming up roses....?

Weather: Slight frost overnight, chilly breeze but no sign of the snow we were threatened with yet!

Once upon a time when you bought a film for your camera and sent it off to be processed and forked out dosh each time you wouldn't waste your precious shots on a photo like the one above but...what joy to be able to do it. A true 'snapshot' of the greenhouse on March 3rd 2008 (when I should be indoors working....)

Yesterday - going by my In Tune with the Moon lunar calendar on a fruit day and a waning moon it says that I should sow 'fruits', which include tomatoes and chilis. So that is what I did.

Into the seed trays in my propagator one short row of Black Russian tomatoes (which were so successful last year - and using the remains of last year's seed) One short of row of Costoluto Firorentino tomatoes ( a red variety new to me this year from the Real Seed Company) Also Chili Pepper Prairie Fire (left over last year's seeds).

As for the other stuff in the greenhouse photo there are - overwintering pelargoniums, rooted cuttings from same in the autumn, plus new cuttings from prunings of the mother plants at the weekend (Tom Cat and Black Butterfly plus a lovely double white with pink edges) , Tom Thumb lettuce in pots and in the wooden seed tray (some of which I hope to transfer outside eventually) Parsley (from seed in January) Aubergine seedlings (should be reading to prick out in a week or so) Diascia (lovely rusty orange overwintering indoors and cuttings) Phygelia (three nicely rooted cuttings) Dorycnium Hirsutum (also rooted cuttings - a member of the pea family with small white flowers - it is hardy but doesn't take well to hard pruning so I often take a cutting or two of this)

As an extra I sowed twenty or so Peas (Avola) into polystyrene strips - recycled from packaging that was covering something or other a year or so back. I haven't got a plan as to where these go if and when they germinate and last year's attempt with these seeds resulted in half a dozen pods - the rest of the row were enjoyed by the slugs.

This year however I am awaiting the arrival of some slug Nematodes ..... I have used them in the past but struggled to keep the ground damp enough for them. Ironically I didn't try them last year when keeping the ground damp wouldn't have been a problem!! The very fact that I have ordered three doses of them at 6 week intervals means we will be assured of a hot dry summer....

Roll out the Barrow....

Weather: Weekend - sunny and warm....but possible snow forecast tomorrow! Daytime temperature today and yesterday around 12C.

Spring really feels in the air and it's time to get the compost out of the bins and out mulching the plants.


I have three bins . One is current and overflowing with the less than perfect mix that winter always provides. The other two I thought were rather twiggy and I was going to turn one into the other ....but when I took the top layer of the centre bin off I found some really good stuff in there. Once I'd pulled out the obvious twiggy stuff I was rather smug - the compost is not half bad.

I mixed several barrow loads to mulch my roses and incorporated blood, fish and bonemeal plus a few handfuls of pelleted chicken manure.

And that brings me to the rose in the picture which I pruned yesterday. It is New Dawn planted by the previous owner in the mid nineteen sixties - so a venerable plant.

It has suffered in the last two summers from Rose Sawfly - or rather the grubs of the sawfly - which eat the green of the leaves leaving them as dry skeletons. Last year it lost all it's leaves in mid summer and I feared the worst. It did however have a second flush of leaves but when I came to prune it there wasn't much good growth from last year so I have cut it fairly severely.

While buying Slug Nematodes at Harrod Horticultural online last weekend I noticed they had an email your problems option. Which I did! They came back early this week to say that the sawfly larvae will be at cocoon stage in the earth at the moment and I should remove them. And if I get a similar infestation this year I should spray with Derris (as I garden organically).

I could find no signs of cocoons in the earth but will have the spray at the ready!