Spring is well and truly springing and as always I look around my own garden and see all those ‘winter’ jobs that I intended to tackle and haven’t.
Never mind, I have managed to clear most of the veggie beds and am now planning out what to sow and grow this year. Last year was just a constant battle, as pheasants, rabbits, mice and moles all conspired to keep my harvests to a minimum and stress levels to a maximum. There was more wire and netting on the plot than edible produce and it was all a bit disappointing, to say the least.
This year, I have pledged to be more relaxed about it all and keep it exceptionally simple by sowing only my absolute favourites. So that will include peas, runner beans and new potatoes but other than that I will probably just sow loads of salad crops, and herbs as that’s what I use most of. I usually encourage people to try a few new crops each year and last year tried chickpeas and lentils (honestly, from Franchi Seeds) – but I would have gone hungry had I been relying on them! A pheasant nested amongst my broad beans, which put pay to those and my asparagus peas, although very pretty, were also very shy and hardly going to be a threat to Bird’s Eye!
No, this year, I will sow with simple expectations and let nature take its course (quietly hoping that it doesn’t take too many of my crops).
A few years ago I had great success with little poly-cold frames, as they brought on the crops much more quickly, so I may try those again. Although, if we have another Storm Doris, I wouldn’t fancy their chances, either. Getting a polytunnel was also one of the things on my ‘to do in the winter’ list, but hasn’t happened either. Sigh.
I recall a fabulous female gardener in her late nineties telling me that in her 70-odd years of gardening she had learned more about psychology than growing things. She explained that it’s far easier to mange your expectations than to manage nature and simpler to change your attitude than to try and change the weather.
How right she is.
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