I have won an award. Shame it wasn’t the Lottery but as someone who never wins anything, an award is quite nice. In the wake of the New Year’s Honours List, WalesOnline revealed their Alternative Award list last week and crowned me … Wales’s Sassiest Gardener. Being naturally suspicious I had to look up ‘sassiest’, and found the definition is: lively, bold, and full of spirit. My brother raised a quizzical eyebrow and asked, “May be they meant lovely, old and full of gin?”
Outdoors the weather continues to test me and staying upright on grassy banks (nothing to do with the gin) has proved as hard as finding jobs that can actually be done without making more mess than you are remedying.
This week I have been preparing banks for wild flowers – the only wildflower seed to use is the mixes from Rigby Taylor, which are the ones used in Llangattock last year and on the Blaenau Gwent roundabouts and verges two years ago and I think the Rainbow Mix is the best. It isn’t the cheapest but it is most definitely the most successful – and clearing raised veggie beds in the hope that one day it will be dry enough to sow some seeds.
I went to Terry Walton’s 70th birthday party on the weekend and he inspired me to put my broad bean seeds in a freezer bag with some damp compost to encourage them to sprout before planting on into individual polystyrene cups prior to planting out in the veg garden. He had shared the same advice with the Jeremy Vine listeners on Radio 2 in the week and had had some weird responses since – suffice to say don’t put them in the freezer – just a freezer bag!
I think it’s a great idea and am looking forward to being encouraged by seeing signs of life before potting on. However, I am also running my own experiment. Terry said he puts his bag of beans next to his computer so he can keep an eye on them, but I am interested to see if they will do better in a less techy zone with less electrical emissions. So I have two bags germinating – one by the computer router and one in a more ‘neutral’ spot.
I’ll let you know the results, if I remember.
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