It has been quite a while since I blogged regularly about the goings on in my greenhouse and I decided a few weeks ago that I am missing these monthly posts. Prompted by an article that I was asked to write about my greenhouse for The Simple Things magazine, I decided that April would be the perfect time to restart this monthly series. Little did I know that the terrible weather which hung on well into March would continue relentlessly throughout April, with the exception of a few extremely warm days which sent the temperatures in my greenhouse soaring! With bulbs going over as fast as they were opening I was lucky to capture this spring view of the greenhouse looking through the mass planting of Pheasant’s Eye narcissi. The flowering of these beautiful white narcissi is one of my favourite spring moments!
Standing inside my greenhouse on a very wet Saturday afternoon I raised my head from potting on seedlings and looked out to see this beautiful vista – lush green grass, new foliage on my weeping ornamental pear tree and lovely blossom on the cherry tree. This cherry tree has been attacked by rooks every year since I planted it – I am not sure why but they have left it alone this year. In the distance you can just about see blossom on one of my young apple trees in my baby orchard and under the cherry tree are tulips and the delicate tall flowers of snowflake Leucojum aestivum ‘Gravetye’.
From the side looking in there are now three crab apple trees – malus Red Sentinel – in blossom. This is perhaps the prettiest blossom in the garden and the small bright red crab apples lasted all the way through the winter until March. Trees are very slow growing additions to a garden, especially if you buy them as young specimens as all my trees have been, but with next to no attention from me these trees will grow year on year adding grace and maturity to my developing garden.
Scented leaf geraniums are one of my favourite summer plants to have in the greenhouse. The leaves are so useful for teas and cakes and they make a great addition to a flower arrangement. I have a number of varieties but Attar of Roses is my favourite for its lovely delicate rose scent. My collection spent the winter drying out under the greenhouse staging and looked very sorry for themselves when I pulled them out a few weeks ago. With a quick tidy and some gentle watering however they are all looking quite healthy again.
I have had Lily of the Valley in flower since February. I keep a number of plants in pots that live along the outside wall on the shady side of the greenhouse in the summer. After Christmas I bring them into the greenhouse and as I see signs of growth I move the pots one by one into the house. About three weeks later the pot will flower and as the flowers start to go over another pot will be brought inside. I have 2 pots left in the greenhouse that are just coming into flower and now that the weather is improving I will move them onto the table outside the kitchen window where I can enjoy these beautiful flowers close up. The pots that have already flowered are back in their home along the greenhouse wall where I can keep them well watered over the summer.
Regular readers will know how much I love to grow sweet peas in my greenhouse. This is my third year of growing a winter variety of sweet pea seed and this week I am celebrating the arrival of the first flower! They are late this year – the previous 2 years I have had plenty of flowers by mid April, but given the endless grey cold days we have had since Christmas I am not surprised they are finding it a little harder to get going. I am sure that when I write my May review there will be plenty of flowers to cut from.
Over the winter I love to grow a selection of bulbs in my greenhouse beds and in pots on the staging. I had plenty of Paperwhite narcissi in flower in time for Christmas and have since had iris reticulata, a selection of crocus varieties, hyacinths and now tulips. Sadly last weeks very hot temperatures meant that tulips I had been waiting for came into flower almost more quickly than I could cut them but I did have a houseful to enjoy for a couple of weeks. These Recreado tulips managed not to open in the hot weather and are now providing the last blast of colour from spring bulbs in my greenhouse for this season.
Just starting to flower are the ranunculus that I planted back in the autumn. These grew in pots on the staging when this area was full of Paperwhites and were planted into the greenhouse bed in early March when the space became free. The flowers are just starting to open and I am hoping they will keep flowering for a few weeks yet, although if the temperatures rise it may be too hot for them under glass.
As well as holding plenty of seedlings my staging is full of dahlia tubers which I have planted up in 3L pots. Most are now starting to shoot and I will move them out into the cold frames as soon as there is some space in there.
It is hard to believe but space is becoming quite an issue right now. I had plenty of hardy annuals that were overwintered inside the greenhouse and potted on and moved out to the cold frames to harden off in February. My plan was to plant them all out in the Cutting Garden in March. Sadly my Cutting Garden beds have been under water almost constantly since January so it has been very hard to get out and prepare them for planting. Consequently I still have the hardy annuals filling the cold frames and now I really need the space to move the half hardy annuals out to harden off, not to mention all the weeding and preparation that needs to happen before anything can be planted out! Some seasons are like this though and there really is no point in worrying about it.
So that is April in a nutshell – seedlings, ranunculus, sweet peas and bulbs inside and plenty of blossom outside! I hope that when I write my review of May I will be able to report that most of the seedlings have found their homes outside and that once again I have some breathing space in my greenhouse – with lots of lovely sweet peas and ranunculus to cut of course! During May I will be ordering chrysanthemum cuttings to provide flowers in November and December and biennial seeds for sowing in June. I hope to get all the hardy annuals planted out and will start to plant out dahlias and half hardy annuals in the last week of May. As soon as there is space I need to pot on my tender vegetables that will grow inside and start some french beans and runner beans so that I am not without beans in the summer months. I hope that I will be able to report that these jobs are in hand when I come to write my May review towards the end of the month!
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I left my dahlias in their pots outside over the winter. We’ve had snow four times, the inevitable endless rain and cold temperatures and I was fairly certain they’d be done for. Remarkably they are sending up shoots (including some that were potted dahlias from Sarah Raven). Needless to say, I am happy
Dahlias are surprisingly hardy as long as they don’t get too wet over winter. I dug half of mine up and kept them in a greenhouse covered with fleece & they are all sprouting. The ones that I left in the ground are a different story though – they sat in flooded beds all winter and are now a rotting smelly mess that I am digging out. I have never grown dahlias in pots Liz – perhaps I will try that this year. Thank you for commenting! xx
Lovely to have a post from you Julie; we also had a dreadful winter but the weather has warmed up now but the April showers are continuing into May. I’m pleased about this as it is watering all the vegetables and cut flower plants that are going into the ground very late this year. Hope all is well and that you manage to get done all you want to accomplish in May.
Thank you Christina! Apart from a few days of blazing heat spring is very shy this year – today is cold, windy & wet yet again. It sounds like you have the perfect weather at the moment – I fear that we may go straight into a dry spell that will mean lots of watering will be needed to get the little plants flowering. I guess it keeps we gardeners on our toes. Lovely to hear from you! xx
Nice to hear from you, Julie. Your gardens and greenhouse are looking lovely, as usual. I love ranunculus and envy yours — our spring is too short to enjoy them for long here in the Midwest. Perhaps next winter I will start some indoors though… Hope you continue to enjoy beautiful spring weather. Best, -Beth
So good to hear from you Julie, and I thoroughly enjoyrd reading your post and seeing what was happening in and around your greenhouse. I have a similar space issue but at least I can report that my Winter Sunshine sweet peas are already flowering generously. Hope you and your family are doing well. Interesting to read you now are writing magazine articles