Happy New Year!

May 2012 be a happy and healthy one for you and yours :D

As you can see my annual snowdrop count has commenced early at VP Gardens. I spotted these on December 23rd. They're just ordinary Galanthus nivalis, not one of yer actual early snowdrop cultivars which are meant to bloom the wrong side of Christmas. This is the earliest date I've recorded for my snowdrops - comfortably beating the previous record of 10th January and proving my garden is continuing in its topsy turvy nature from last year*.

Today the snowdrop count stands at 14, though it's set to go at least 100 times that over the next few weeks :)

* come to think of it topsy turvy is actually more normal than normal is ;)

Comments

  1. Damo1 January 2012 at 15:21

    Wow that is early! Happy New Year!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eight by Six1 January 2012 at 15:32

    Happy New Year! I spent the morning and some of the afternoon in the garden. I hadn't cleared the veg patch in the autumn so it was long overdue! I plan to spend more time in the garden this year. Amanda x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Elizabeth Musgrave1 January 2012 at 15:51

    yours are earlier than mine! i have some snouts though. Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Caro1 January 2012 at 16:06

    Topsy turvy looks like the set pattern for now! Warm(ish) and very wet here in London. Happy new year and all the best for 2012! Caro x

    ReplyDelete
  5. Shirley1 January 2012 at 16:24

    ... and a very HAPPY NEW YEAR to you to!! Your snowdrop count always sounds fun (like lots of other posts here).

    Wishing you all my best wishes for blogging in 2012. I suspect its going to be an exciting year for you :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Carol Michel1 January 2012 at 16:56

    Happy New Year to you as well. One of the highlights of 2011 was meeting you in person!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dobby1 January 2012 at 16:58

    I still have a fuschia out. Does that count?
    Happy New Year to you and yours.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Joyti1 January 2012 at 17:56

    Such a pretty shot. And Happy New Year to you!

    ReplyDelete
  9. petoskystone1 January 2012 at 19:34

    Happy New Year! It's in the 50sF/10sC. So not normal.

    ReplyDelete
  10. elaine 1 January 2012 at 19:55

    Mine are only just poking through it must be a lot warmer where you are. Best wishes for 2012 hope its a good one.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anna1 January 2012 at 20:43

    A most cheering sight to greet 2012. Must venture out tomorrow if rain does not stop play to see what stage mine are at. May the New Year treat you, NAH, garden and allotment kindly VP xxx
    P.S Still waiting for you to reveal that special snowdrop counting technique :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Lea's Menagerie2 January 2012 at 01:42

    Haven't seen snowdrops here yet, but I have some daffodils just barely showing their tips - much earlier than they should.
    Today was windy and mild - like Spring - but tonight's forecast is for below freezing temps, warming up some again tomorrow. Last year we had snow on January 10.
    Happy new Year!
    Lea
    Mississippi, USA

    ReplyDelete
  13. The Constant Gardener2 January 2012 at 13:19

    We have snowdrops too! And daffodils, and my mum's cherry tree is currently in full blossom.

    As you say, topsy-turvy is the new normal...

    Happy New Year VP and hope 2012 is a good one for you! xx

    ReplyDelete
  14. Gail2 January 2012 at 16:18

    Happy New year to you dear VP! xoxogail ps Not a snowdrop to be found in my garden!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Jan2 January 2012 at 17:09

    Happy New Year, Michelle;-) It surely has been a long time since I've visited your blog...but what a great time to say hello! Your snowdrops are lookin' so purty;-) One of mine popped up in November this year, it was the 'Giant Snowdrop' elweisii...I also have an 'early blooming' variety but I missed that one...by the time I checked on it in late Oct it had already come and gone! The weather is really weird here, too. We never know what surprises the garden will hold for us...guess that's why we keep going back to check--every day is kind of like Christmas, never knowing what will have popped up (or croaked!!) LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Juliet2 January 2012 at 19:02

    Happy new year, VP!

    I think you are ahead of Anglesey Abbey - we went there on 27th, and there was only one tiny patch of snowdrops out, of all their many thousands.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Joan2 January 2012 at 21:03

    wow! Truly early. I have the same variety in my garden but not a peep save leaf tips. Ours has been an milder than predicted winter thus far too.
    Love your blog and am looking forward to following you another year. Happy New Year from the US!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Kelli3 January 2012 at 04:03

    Happy New Year from the Seattle area! Looking foward to another year of your wisdom.

    ReplyDelete
  19. VP3 January 2012 at 17:59

    Hi everyone - thanks for your New Year's good wishes :)

    I'm coming over to see you - a bit like a blog First Footing ;)

    Indie Tea and Kellie - welcome!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous5 January 2012 at 08:15

    Happy New Year! Flighty xx

    ReplyDelete
  21. VP5 January 2012 at 09:28

    And here's to a good 2012 for you too Flighty! xx

    ReplyDelete
  22. this is my patch7 January 2012 at 16:50

    Wow! This batch of snowdrops is early! Happy New Year! x

    ReplyDelete
  23. VP11 January 2012 at 20:13

    Hi Louise - lovely to see you :)

    That batch of snowdrops is over already, but there's plenty more taking their place :)

    ReplyDelete

New comments are not allowed.

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter,
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi
Read more