Garden Happenings for Spring

The weeds are growing thick and fast. I am spending as much time as possible in removing the weeds before they go to flower and seed.

As I weed each area I mulch the area thoroughly to help slow down regrowth of weeds. This mulch will also help the soil retain moisture levels too.

Whilst I’m making plans for my summer vegetable garden, I’m also reflecting on how my winter veggies grew.

Next winter I will definitely be replanting the following crops as I had the most successful harvest from them; sprouting broccoli (both the green and purple), rainbow chard, all the Asian greens, Tuscan kale, celery, leek, beetroot, broad beans, spring onions and rhubarb.

You will notice I have not included the most common winter veggies like cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage. I have to say we are not the biggest lovers of any of these veggies. They are my least favourite winter crops.

They take up so much room in the patch, are really only a single harvest crop and are so slow to develop. I never get them in early enough as I am always still enjoying our summer crops so much I never want to pull out the tomatoes in February to start growing these three crops. Maybe one day if I have more space I will grow them again.

I’m continuing to pick spring flowering annuals such as sweet peas to encourage the plants to produce more flowers.

The more you the pick, the more flowers will be produced.

I’ve taken hardwood cuttings of my hydrangeas to propagate a few of my favourite varieties. Some of these I have potted up in soil and others I have set up in vases of water.

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• Topics:

• Gardening