Nipping It In The Bud

Yesterday looked as if it was going to be one of those January days ~ the morning dawned cool, dull and the fine drizzle developed into full scale rain. Definitely a write off for any outdoor activities or so I thought but it eventually brightened up. After lunch I decided to potter in the greenhouse and to make a quick inspection of the estate. In the greenhouse the sweet peas I sowed almost in the middle of November have made a fair bit of growth. These were sown much later than normal as I had such poor germination with the first batch. These second sowings have germinated well (not all of them but enough). I was worried that it may be too late to get them going but apart from the one snowfall in December, we have had hardly any really cold nights so far. Time then to nip off the growing points as recommended to make for more sturdy and floriferous plants.

My small tray of cuttings looks happy and healthy so far - the above photo was taken in the third week of November.  I did not take many cuttings last autumn - perhaps I had visions of another extremely cold winter which would involve wrapping myself and cuttings with infinite swathes of horticultural fleece. In the event I wish I taken more. However there are a few penstemons, a pretty little purple Swan River daisy, some pinks from my Mum's garden, lemon verbena which I delighted in stroking to release a whiff of delicious scent and some physocarpus opulifolius 'Diablo'. There are also a few cuttings of an edible plant which will briefly remain a mystery as it merits a blog post of its own.

I got caught up with some general tidying up in the greenhouse and sowed some seed for Veg Plotting's 'The 52 Week Salad Challenge', so in the end not much time to look at what was happening in the garden. It was exciting though to  see that another three of my little named snowdrop collection may open this week - 'Wendys Gold', 'John Gray' and 'Faringdon Double'. No doubt I will be running out every day whatever the weather to check on their progress.