The Swallows Are Back
Time to Get Planting
The swallows came back this month, possibly encouraged by the cessation of a persistent northerly that’s been blowing for what feels like weeks. If I were them, I’d have stayed in France too – we were a good 6°C colder than the average for the time of year, with frosts well into late April. As of this week, temperatures have risen to the teens, and we are keeping the potting shed doors closed to prevent nests. There are plenty of nooks and crannies in the towers and back sheds for them to make use of, and it means no guano in your cup of tea. It’s quite dark in the shed with everything shut up, so this triggers a sort of migration of our own to the outdoors, to make the most of what finally feels like early summer.
A few days of wet weather colliding with higher temperatures mean the garden is exploding into life, which unfortunately includes the weeds too. On the plus side it also makes for ideal conditions for direct sowing of seeds, which I’ve been doing in stages this week. I mostly do this for things like Ammi, florist’s dill, and Nigella because they resent any kind of constriction in the root zone and never really seem to recover from being in a pot. To do this I use a taut string to make a row and draw a three-edged hoe along it to form a shallow drill. I then either sow thinly all the way along, or at regular intervals depending on seed size and value. When sowing direct in spring, it’s best to wait until the soil is warm and damp, which is exactly where we found ourselves this week. The optimal soil temperature for germination is something above 10°C, but I always think of Christine Walkden’s advice to never sow direct until you could comfortably place your bare bottom on the soil (though you’ll be relieved to know I didn’t put that metric into practice - the back of your hand is a perfectly good stand-in). The same logic follows for grass seed, and so I’ve been throwing that onto a few scalped patches too.
It’s a good time for planting too - last autumn we removed an avenue of very leggy old lavenders which we’re replacing with a larger more vigorous variety called Lavandula x intermedia ‘Grosso’, which is used in oil production and should give off a heady scent under the canopy of the apple trees. I much prefer to plant lavender in spring, especially into our heavy soil, as sitting wet all winter does them no good. We’ll also have the first of the seed-raised annuals ready to go out in the next week or so, with the first being palest creamy-yellow and claret-coloured sunflowers followed by a few choice Cosmos and Calendula. Last week I finally brought the dahlia tubers out of their cosy spot in the garage to pot them up to grow on in the unheated glasshouse for a few weeks. I’m a pretty mean gardener generally, so I use the smallest pot I can get away with both for space and to save compost, and if time allows I’ll take a few basal cuttings of the best varieties to increase stocks. I’ll then wait until each plant has a few strong shoots before planting into the cut flower beds in late May or early June.
Speaking of June, we’re barrelling towards our summer open days which this year are 10th to 25th June and will include a really exciting series of events that we’re dying to tell you all about, but rest assured we’ll be able to say more shortly. In the meantime, I can say that Common Coffee will be back in the cafe serving up delicious sweet treats and sensational cheese toasties as well as their own coffee roasted here on the farm. Ticket details will be available soon, but until then I’ll sign off and wish you all happy gardening!
Kate