February Light
These shorter days are deliberate in taking gardening plans and ambitions slowly. Where natural daylight is scarce, I am encouraged to source through pages of books, scribbling down plant names, combination planting, natives and creating pockets of pollinator friendly plants.
Seizing snippets of time I flit back and forth between a handwritten notebook and electronic notes. These conceptions need to be plotted in the coming weeks in order to prep, restore and plant.
What I lack in penmanship with untidy page scrawlings, I do not in notions and whims. A new bed has been created and plants ordered but first up is to restore the current perennials and curtail the wilderness that has been created. Cleaning up beds, smothering them in horse muck and finally covering with landscape fabric until they are ready to be planted is one of February’s unending list of chores.
Breaks in the clouds make way for light, drenching all that lies in its wake. The potager illuminates and spirits are lifted, dishing up spontaneous jets of motivation. These snippets of sunlight beam across rosy chilled cheeks and within an instant I park up with a cup of tea to bask in it. And why not.
Bird song dials up and I sit silently listening.
This is the February light that brings clarity and also brings a cruel deception. A false sense of security, a bare faced lie. This is not spring, it is a ‘false spring’. Don’t be fooled and hold tight to your patience. Enjoy the moments when they are thrown down over us but be aware the ice cold weather is just around the corner, waiting to step back in.
Sow sweet peas now!
I can almost smell them, handfuls of petals to fill the home.
You can order them in the Potager Store and to give you a sowing head start use code SPFEB20 to receive 20% off. Valid until end of February.
By the end of February it will carry ten+ hours of daylight, ever increasing along its short number of days. Enough light to start sweet peas and cool enough for them to grow. Juliet is one of my absolute favourites with blush tinted buttercream petals. A simply gorgeous pea with an intoxicating scent. Castlewellan, Mollie Rilstone and Anniversary have been sown together to create the most delicious buttercream and blush bouquet of flowers to pick together.
The next two collections of sweet peas to grow this year have been sown, named Frosted Chalk and Periwinkle. I’m particularly fond of Cathy and Bobby’s Girl and looking forward to sharing these with you later in the year. I’ll share all the details in stories on Instagram.
Autumn sown snapdragon seedlings are being bumped up to give them a new plant food source, 5 more trays to go! These will be ready to go into the ground in around six to eight weeks with protection until the danger of frost has passed. I bump the Nigella into 9cm pots and pop them into the greenhouse at the plot. I now have room in my little growhouse at home to house the stocks. So far only 2 x 40 cell trays completed with 9 more varieties to go. Always sow more than you need, always!
Imagine… sweet peas and stocks all in one vase in your home. Imagine!!!
As always I put tulips in late. A job that just gets pushed back and back. Well now they are finally in! Hurrayyy!
Now for a confession, I never dug up my ranunculus corms from last year and to my absolute joy most of them have come back and are flourishing. I will absolutely give them the love they deserve and add them to this year’s ranunculus siblings. Which ones have survived are yet to be seen, a small ranunculus lottery waiting to reveal itself.
(lets pray it’s the expensive ones)
With the workload ahead and Mother Nature running away with herself, waiting no woman. (she has habit of doing this to me), I find it hard to see past what state the plot is currently in.
I remind myself with previous years pics and all is forgiven.
Now where is that spade…
Until next time
love Jane x
An injection of spring 2023 to see me through February
