Interviewing Myself: For Double Danger

It's February, so there needs to be lots of fun things to do to brighten up the month. My latest find is Double Danger's starting their own meme: it's a bit like doing a mini interview, so I'm feeling like I'm talking to myself whilst putting this post together. Hope I don't mutter too much, can you hear me clearly out there...?

Describe your gardening style.

Confused.

What was the last plant you bought?

The lovely pale blue Iris reticulata at the RHS London Show's plant sell off last week. I was going to put them into my revamped border project, but after reading James' article a couple of days ago, I'm tempted to try them out in my gravel bed. Perhaps that gives you an inkling why my gardening style's confused - or should that be indecisive?

What were the last seeds you bought?

It depends on what you mean by seed. I bought some seed potatoes at Malmesbury Potato Day at the end of January. If you mean packet seeds, then that was the seed order Threadspider and I put together at the end of November via our local Garden & Allotment Society. Each member puts their individual orders in which then get transferred into one giant one, thus giving us a huge discount (40%) - a bargain. I'm going to collect the seeds on Sunday and then Threadspider and I will divide the spoils next week. A great excuse for a get together and a coffee :)

When was the last time you had to pick the dirt from under your nails?This morning - one hour and twenty minutes ago to be exact. I've just come back from the allotment where I dug up some leeks and carrots (see photo) to add to the soup I'm making for lunch. That's simmering away nicely now, so in the meantime I just popped up here to write today's post.

Any big plans for the garden this year?Lots - as usual. Though to make sure I actually complete something this year, I've restricted myself to just one major project, which is to revamp the back border of my back garden. Other plans for this year can be found here.

What was has been your biggest mistake in gardening EVER?Mmm, so many to choose from. Apart from the bad choice and siting of the Berberis and bluebells I talked about the other day, my other current bugbear is my Skimmia bushes. I made the mistake of putting them out on the sunniest spot on my patio in their first year, so they turned a sickly yellow colour. Although I've moved them to a nice shady spot, they haven't recovered and look at me forlornly every time I go to my shed.

Biggest success?
Two years ago I managed to pick 24 punnets of strawberries in just 10 days. I'm not talking about your usual punnet size, but those containers designed to hold eight peaches. The unusually warm spring that year meant there were lots more flowers and pretty well 100% fruit set. NAH and I managed to scoff the lot, no problem.

If you could be doing anything right now in regards to gardening… what would it be?

There's so many jobs just crying out to be done at the moment, so it's hard to pick just one. The thing that's going to make the most difference right now is if I go out and clear all the leaves off the patio and gravel path. Just a quick tidy up always looks like you've done more than you actually have. So that's this afternoon's job - byeeee!