Seeds

It being March, we always have seeds to sow. Today was a number of vegetables, as well as some ornamental plants, including some that came via the RHS seed collection service. These—hellebores, cyclamen, and camassia—need some work before they germinate. The cyclamen and camassia are in seed compost, in trays in the fridge, to (try to) break their dormancy. They'll then come in and sit on a windowsill to get going. The hellebores are outside, under a pane of glass, to be exposed to the elements for a while. They take up to eighteen months to germinate, so it's a real waiting game. Hellebores are an investment of optimism and time: after the eighteen months (potentially) to germinate, it'll still be three or four years before they flower, and we can see whether they're pretty and garden worthy.

Less demanding are cineraria, petunias, and the vegetables: more beetroot ('Globe'), leeks ('Porbello', to go with the already germinated 'Prizetaker'), and spinach (more 'Lazio'). The broad beans we sowed last week have started to come up, and all but one tomato is germinated. The chillis and sweet peppers aren't doing as well, but they can take a couple of weeks, so they're definitely still in progress.

Today wasn't a day for being outside (sleet, snow, rain), but we had a productive day yesterday, planting seven of the sweet chestnuts, and fourteen willows (scarlet, golden, and osier). The rest of the willows we bought (ten of each of those) are going around the garden, to fill in the living willow screen next to the septic tank, and form the willow arches around the pond. Passing deer inflicted quite a lot of damage on these last winter, so there are gaps. Fortunately, this year hasn't seen as much deer damage, possibly because we think they came into the garden where the wood shelter is now, which blocks their access.

The clearing which the chestnuts and willow are screening does, however, definitely have deer wandering through. There are at least three clear animal tracks, and a damaged section of dry stone wall where they obviously cross. To stop them killing the saplings, the trees are inside an 8x1.5m chicken wire enclosure, which will hopefully make them either inaccessible, or sufficiently unattractive. The last three sweet chestnuts are in pots, and will probably now be planted out in the autumn.