I don’t seem to have written about growing things for ages. We’ve had a rather sunny April so far and, normally, this would have helped the garden along. However, it has been really cold and we’ve had frosts during recent nights, so the few things that are outside – garlic, shallots and some hardy salad leaves – are making slow progress. The exceptions are the rhubarb, which is thriving as a result of the heap of compost that was piled atop it a couple of months ago and the red currant bush that we moved in March, which I was worried might not survive, but seems to be doing fine. Just this morning, however, I brought one of my small trays of salad greens indoors because the tiny seedlings were looking so forlorn outside.
My issue at the moment is space in the limery. Things that I had hoped to move outdoors by now (in particular the three citrus trees) are still inside. There are still potatoes chitting on the windowsill, and lettuce in pots. The planter I want to use for the tumbling tomatoes remains unplanted because there isn’t room for it inside, so the plants are in pots still because these take up less space. Last year’s chillies and peppers are slowly resprouting, but it’s too early to know which are likely to be worth keeping and which can be “recycled”, so that’s more space being occupied. I’m holding off planting more seeds because I need to prioritise what little spare space I have for potting up things that are already growing. I have a number of things that I would like to get sown, but they will have to wait until things warm up outside… I’m sure they will make up for lost time once they do get planted.
The weather forecast is showing cold nights for another week at least, so it looks like I’m going to have to be patient a while longer.
The Snail of Happiness 
Nice Piece of Work
/ April 12, 2021Green fingers 🙂
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Wild Daffodil
/ April 12, 2021Still very cold here on the south coast as well. Brrr!
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tialys
/ April 12, 2021We had such a warm Easter weekend didn’t we? Lots of things, like the carrot seedlings, put on a spurt but have since slowed down so much that the Head Gardener is sulking.
We brought some hostas back from France with us and stuck them in a raised bed temporarily where they’d just started showing nice, strong new growth but we had a frost one morning and the new growth suffered. What remains, plus the lucky ones that were still under the soil have now been moved into the greenhouse where they should have been all along really,
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 12, 2021Poor hostas. Still, all we can do is wait… and hold off planting anything else for now.
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polesparadise
/ April 12, 2021Same here but in our case it is the box room. That has overflowed into the craft room, but as out Peach House is unheated, I’ll wait a little longer. Plus it is full of aoniums & pelargoniums. And hedgehog hutches….
How do you keep your peppers over winter? We tried kitchen& box room window sill, the Peach house & greenhouse. All died. 😦
Love to you both. XX
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 12, 2021I cut them right back, leaving only about 10cm of stem, water them sparingly and keep them in the limery, which is only heated when in use (generally a couple of hours in the evenings during winter). I get about 60% survival (chillies survive better than peppers, generally), but some are so weak they are not worth keeping and they go in the compost. The one in the picture that’s sprouting well is a lemon drop chilli.
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Rainbow Junkie
/ April 12, 2021This time last year I had fully open apple blossom. This year all I have are leaves just beginning to sprout. Everything seems delayed after our cold winter. Sounds as if you’ll have a great harvest eventually though.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 12, 2021Our apple tree is just the same – I’m really glad it didn’t flower last week, because all the blossom would have been finished off this week.
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Laurie Graves
/ April 12, 2021Welcome to my world! 😉 Hope warmer weather comes to you soon.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 12, 2021Years ago we visited New England in May thinking it would be spring… and encountered snow!
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Laurie Graves
/ April 12, 2021Tee-hee! A little unusual, but it can snow in New England in Maine.
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cedar51
/ April 13, 2021I believe we get gang-ho when the weather looks better, when in fact we should wait – because the seedlings and things will then feel so much happier. We want to be the first person in our neck of the woods eating tomatoes or something else…
I haven’t planted seeds or grown any type of real vegetable for years, because I seemed to have lost my green fingers when I moved here. I lost my parsley over this summer…I probably didn’t give it enough water.
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Going Batty in Wales
/ April 13, 2021My early sowings have almost all failed so it is back to square one for me – but then I was in too much of a hurry! Will I ever learn patience?
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Linda McClenaghan
/ April 13, 2021Hi, I’ve just been catching up with your blog posts for the past month, and was especially interested in the crocheted pink peaked hat you showed on 12th March. It’s exactly the style I’ve been looking for; it would cover the ears and also help keep rain off my specs! Please could you share the source of the pattern?
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 13, 2021This is the link: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-pacer-beanie—ear-flap–visor
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katechiconi
/ April 13, 2021Console yourself with the notion that once things have warmed up everything will take off, like Marvell’s ‘vegetable love…. vaster than empires, and more slow’. Soon, the plants will be shoving at you for more elbow room, the tomatoes towering like triffids!
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Piglet in Portugal
/ April 18, 2021I have rhubarb envy. No matter what I do it does not want to grow. Fingers crossed the weather improves soon and you can’t move your plants outdoors
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 19, 2021Last nigh was a little bit warmer, so fingers crossed the frosts are over now.
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