TUG MONARDA, SOW ONIONS

POT'S GROWING ON? 06/01/23

Isn’t it typical, we’re finally having a small dry spell after what feels like months of rain and I’m stuck in bed with the lurgy! Still, the sunshine is encouraging and I’ve noticed the birds reappearing, flying around as happy as me on a nice winter day.

Where do the birds all hide in the rain? I guess they find as dry shelter as possible in hedges and among evergreens, perhaps forgoing a meal or two to stay dry and warm. I keep thinking I must take cuttings from the berry producing female holly trees to plant a few more on our farm this year to help the birds.

In our old London garden robins were the most common visitor, whereas they’re quite a small proportion of the birds in our Yorkshire garden, where a range of tits, finches, black birds, crows and magpies live in greater numbers. It highlights to me how solitary robins are, compared to those that congregate in little flocks.

It’s always a surprise to me how early spring bulbs start growing in winter. Snowdrops and daffodils were already shooting at the end of last year. The smaller Narcissus bulbocodium ‘Arctic Bells’ even have some buds that look ready to open soon. I guess this is all a sign that, although it has been very wet, it’s also been quite mild. These early shoots go through a bit of stop-start growth in January and February as colder spells, as we’re having this week, will slow them down. It’s exciting, to see that we are at the start of the growing season.

Plants propagated by tugging bits off: Monarda didyma, Saxifraga × urbium, and Althaea cannabina

Some perennials have an easy way of propagating more, even in winter: give em a tug! Look for plants with new growing points and see if you can tug a bit off with some roots also attached. In winter this works for only the hardiest plants that tend to grow vigorously from tiny fragments. It’s hard to categorise them all, you’ll learn to recognise it when you see or try it. Two plants I propagate by tugging in winter are Monarda and Achillea which both produce rhizomes, horizontal roots that grow just below or at the soil surface. Others I’ve been experimenting with are London pride, Saxifraga × urbium, and Althaea cannabina. It may be better to do this in spring when everything is growing more vigorously, I think it’s worth an experiment.

I save most of my vegetable sowing for March and April onwards but the one thing I do sow in January is onions… and shallots. Shallots basically being onions so I’m let off calling it ‘one thing’. Last year I grew ‘Yellow Rynsburger’, ‘Carmen’ and ‘Zebrine’ and I’m using the leftover seeds this year too. Really easy, I just fill three seed trays with peat free compost, make a little dip using a plant label, sprinkle the seeds in and then cover and water, plonk on a windowsill until germinated before moving to the polytunnel until spring. See my full photo guide here.

In the polytunnel last week I planted out our germinated winter hardy peas in a row alongside the winter salads. You can see I planted the winter salads a little too late last autumn, they’re still small. In warm periods they are starting to grow however, so we’ll soon have lots of salad leaves for the end of winter and then peas in early spring. I used to grow winter peas outside down south, up here in Yorkshire they need more protection.

The stone of the patio we had extended is starting to dirty up nicely. In spring I’ll jet wash both sides and the colour will match because it’s the same stone. While I would like my mind to focus on this area this year, and it is to some degree as I’ve planted it up with lots of plants we won’t see until spring, I find it hard not to let my mind wander across the whole garden. Anyway, one thing’s for certain, we need a table for the patio so I can start having meetings about nature and wildlife on it! Oh, and for eating outside of course…

Take care everyone, there’s no major rush to do anything in the garden right now but if you feel like it, do get stuck in! I’ve ordered some of the veg seed we need this week and, when I feel better, will get out as soon as possible to start coppicing trees.

p.s. if you are enjoying the Wild Way and want more specific advice, please consider upgrading to receive the premium newsletter sent at the start of each month with longer in-depth guidance and detailed plant recommendations with growing info...