27th January 2019 - Countdown to Spring

Is anyone else seriously counting down the days until spring?  I hate the winter and being cold - in a past life I think I must have been something that hibernated or I lived in a hot country :-D

Over the last couple of weeks I've started looking at what I want to grow next season, especially as I have a lot more space now.  I have always wanted to grow asparagus and so I've ordered some for one of the new beds in 86a.  I got them from Groupon but they've been delivered from Hayloft .  I bought 18 crowns - 6 new greenic (early season), 6 guelph millenium (mid season) and 6 gijnlim (late season) they cost £13.98 (22% off) plus £1.99 delivery; which I think is really reasonable.  The problem I have is that I can't plant them until March and so now I need to work out how to keep them until then - my best option at the moment (I think) is to keep them in the boot of the car where they'll be cool and dry and not available for the mice to eat them.  I will keep you posted on my progress.  

I can't remember if I've previously mentioned that I keep a bullet journal.  If you've never heard of bullet journals you can check out the original concept at bulletjournal.com or look on Pintrest and Instagram for bullet journal inspirations.  My journal includes everything I need for my day to day life and for me, it's about having everything in one place so that I'm not looking for my to-do lists in one place and my calendar in another.  I have started my to-do list for this year and as you can see it's already starting to mount up!  I did a few jobs before I did the list though so it's not as long as it could have been.  

I did spend a little bit of time up at the plot this weekend (for the first time since Christmas); I got 2 blueberry plants from Groupon a couple of weeks ago.  They're only small, in 9" pots, so I wanted to re-pot them into slightly bigger pots and make sure that they're in ericaceous compost with root booster.  When I create the beds in 86a I am going to have one with acidic soil for the blueberries,  I also have a rhododendron that I might pop in that same bed.  I kept the pines from the Christmas tree and I'll use them as a mulch for this bed.

I've also arranged to have 2 posts for the new gate that I need to pick up from another plot holder.  I will need to dig holes for the new posts (although I'm hoping to persuade Mr L to help me with that one!) and the gate already has all the hardware that I need to be able to hang it as soon as the posts are ready.  The gate currently has a number 3 worked into the metalwork and so I'm going to get something to cover it and then that is where I'll put my plot number.

The other job I got done this weekend was to begin cleaning the bird feeders.  It's important to clean them at least once a year to help keep the birds healthy.  One of the feeders had got clogged up and so it desperately needed to be cleaned.  The rest I need to clean over the coming weeks so that as the birds are beginning to feed their babies the feeders are clean for them.

At this time of year it is all about planning and making sure I'm ready when spring comes.  I will be very busy trying to get 86a fully productive; I'm super excited about the asparagus bed and the blueberries and I can't wait to get started again (roll on spring!)

Until next time
Happy Gardening x