Multum in parvo

 

Oh dear ....

‘Multum in parvo’ – much in a little – seems to be the best description of the past few days’ gardening.  I keep finding a lot of (usually undesirable) things in too small a space, or I’m trying to fit a lot into cramped quarters.

There was a pot on the patio that was annoying me and needed tidying up.  It's a very small pot, containing a few Allium karataviense bulbs (one of which is the variety ‘Ivory Queen’, the rest the ordinary species, and the difference is apparent when they flower, but not too much).  An antirrhinum self-seeded in there a year or two (or three?) back, and the dead flower spikes weren’t doing anything for the look of the whole.  It wasn’t a particularly nice antirrhinum, a washed-out pink and yellow, and I wasn’t minded to keep it.  So, although it’s not a good time of year to be repotting alliums, I decided to tip the lot out and take a look. 

Oh dear.  The alliums were there, sprouting nicely, and so were a large number of what is almost certainly Allium nigrum, self-seeded from a nearby pot.  And the antirrhinum – or antirrhinums? – of course, and their roots were forming a dense, circling mass all round the lower part of the pot.  But there was also a foxglove, a small ivy plant and a bramble seedling, and a layer of moss across the top.  Rather a lot for a little pot.  I managed to remove the foxglove, ivy and bramble and much of the moss, and cut away a lot of the antirrhinum; but rather than disturb the Allium karataviense I decided to repot them, with the other alliums and some antirrhinum root, and do a full clean-up later in the year when the bulbs are dormant.

On the subject of bulbs, part of the clump of Galanthus elwesii, my earliest snowdrop, was dug up and some of the bulbs replanted into the ‘new’ bed by the patio, where they will be more easily seen; and more of them went into a pot, with the same end in mind.

There’s also a lot in our rather small pond.  It has needed clearing out for a long time, but when I noticed a blackbird hopping across the surface the other day I realised that something would have to be done.  Ok, it’s been dry recently, and the water level is low, but there is more weed, fallen leaves and mud in there than water.  It’s a job I’ve been putting off for far too long, and a messy one – but it needs doing!

The propagator - a lot in a small space!

Seed-sowing, under cover, has also been one of my recent jobs, and again it’s a matter of fitting as much as possible into as small a space as possible.  Tomato seeds have been brought indoors to germinate, but others are in the greenhouse: herbs, lettuce, peas, salad onions and salvia (blue clary) in the propagator, and lobelia and cosmos in a tray with glass on top (since they need light to germinate).  There are more seeds needing sowing, so more space will be needed!

The weather remained chilly, thanks to a north-easterly breeze, a few snow showers and a couple of slightly frosty nights, until the last couple of days when things have warmed up considerably, to the extent that today I found myself gardening in a long-sleeved T-shirt without any top layers and managed lunch on the bench outside.  However the forecasters have been warning of the possibility of an Arctic snap to come, so I haven’t been in too much of a hurry to plant seedlings out.  I’ll get the broad beans out of the cold frame and into the ground tomorrow, though; after some weeks of unseasonably dry weather, there is (finally) some rain forecast over the weekend, which should help establish them nicely.

A little more colour in the garden now: daffodils are slowly opening, primulas in sunny corners are blooming, and the little clump of Crocus angustifolius is making a colourful splash alongside the drive.