What a difference a day makes! Yesterday I was complaining about the unseasonably cold weather. Today it is positively spring-like! I moved the lettuce, onion and cabbage seedlings into the greenhouse for a bit of sunshine. I will bring them in overnight and repeat the process for the next few days before leaving them out permanently. I have also been planting ranunculus tubers:
These are called "Asiatic Mixed". I have never grown them before so did a little bit of research. It is recommended that you put the tubers in flowing water overnight! The best I could do was put them in a bowl of water and change the water a few times. After soaking for 24 hours, the tubers were about twice their original size. They are still quite tiny though and remind me of (miniature) octupi:
I planted 6 per 10 inch pot:
I am planning to transplant them into the ground once they are growing strongly.
This year we are going to try growing some kale at the allotment. Last year we picked up a reduced packet of seeds that contains 4 different varieties that mature at different times from September through to March:
I have sown 12 seeds in pots on the windowsill in the hope of getting at least one of each variety to try.
In other news we have decided to move our beautiful dogwood "Cornus Cardinal" to the front garden. The stems are a lovely burnt orange colour this time of year but the backdrop of a red brick wall does not do them justice, in fact they are almost camouflaged:
Now is a good time to move this type of shrub while it is still dormant. Before moving I have given it a severe haircut, cutting all crossing branches back to the base of the plant and reducing the height by three-quarters:
Not quite coppiced but nearly. I really hope the plant recovers! It will be moved to a border in front of our house. Our house is white rendered so the colourful stems will really stand out. To give the plant the best start possible we have dug in a wheel barrow full of compost from our compost bin. Fingers crossed ......
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