Six on Saturday – 24/04/2021 – Start the Harvest

I worked in the garden well into the evening yesterday and was fairly constantly surrounded by hordes of tiny flying things. Non-biting midges, I hoped, and not baby mosquitos, which would bode ill for the rest of the spring. A bit early for mosquitos in these parts, but these days, who knows? But that was yesterday, and today is Saturday, which means The Propagator is hosting his weekly round-up of six things in the garden. Aside from the tiny flying things, it’s been an eventful week here, with a nicely short lived dumping of snow (there’s another post coming tomorrow with some proof of that), a first harvest of chives for the dinner salad, spring bulbs continuing to produce an abundance of blooms and the first mowing of the lawn this year. Here are six other things:

I’ve never had the nack for growing lettuce (or any sort of greens) but each year I’m in awe of the photos I see of cold frames and tunnels and green houses bursting with fresh leaves, usually starting some time in March. I thought I’d experiment a bit this year and ordered a few packets of seed, lopped the bottoms off some four litre water jugs, and stuck them in my kitchen garden. Below are my mini greenhouses, and above is the result – Forellenschluss lettuce seedlings. It’s an Austrian heirloom romaine type, and the name means ‘speckled like a trout’s back.’ I love how the speckles are there even on the cotyledons.

I planted two new daffodil varieties last fall. This is Narcissus ‘Delibes’ – a large cup daff with a striking orange ruffled rim. Only one in bloom so far, with its head pointing down (perhaps the snow bent it…) so I had to gently coax it to face the camera.

We’ve been eating chives this week but next week, perhaps, we’ll be into the asparagus. I MUST find and plant more crowns this spring because with a few more plants we may get a few more meals…

I can go on about foliage as much as about flowers, and sometimes the foliage far outshines the flower (many people would put Hostas in this category, although I quite like their flowers). The variegated Iris – Iris pallida – is one where, in my opinion, the flower takes a back seat to gorgeous yellow and green foliage. In my side garden they look great this time of year behind a patch of Muscari armeniacum.

It looks like all four of my roses have survived the winter again. Here’s some proof – buds bursting on this Iceberg:

I’ve saved what I consider the most unique, alien looking, somewhat frightening, yet exiting, thing for last. Started from seed, these are Cup and Saucer vines (Cobaea scandens, also known as Cathedral Bells) beginning their journey to reach three to six metres into the sky, producing, I hope, lovely purple flowers. I’ll be transplanting them into a large pot in three weeks or so and I won’t mind if that inhibits their growth much!

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Have a great weekend everyone!