At the point in the year where this all started, so can start doing some comparisons of progress next month, but here’s the final piece in the 2023/4 cycle
Ch ch ch changes
Trees in front garden pollarded March 20, so will wait to see what happens. Hawthorn and laurel hedges in the front garden are luscious, flowering and green. Dogwoods cut back by the end of the month, leaving a few longer stems as a framework to support the allium leaves. Split up clump of Shasta daisies and planted clumps of varying sizes and likelihood of survival along the west facing bed. Planted a tray of morning glory seeds and tomatoes (hope over experience, although shoots did appear within a week on both).
Successes
Euphorbias marching down the east facing bed, glowing acidly in the shade. Odd to look at them and think that the parent clump started off where the dogwoods are now. One of the verbascums coming into leaf, Leaves on the fuchsia. First sight of the lily of the valley at the beginning of the month which had put on lots of growth by the end. The wild garlic is back in profusion. Plants put into the west-facing bed as a stop gap when the pond was put in all seem to have established, so that bed now has the pinks, a clump of Japanese anemones and the beginnings of a patch of sweet woodruff. The heucheras planted at the front edge of the main west-facing bed are doing well with flower spikes on the red one. The geum in that bed is putting on growth really fast.
March 20 Equinox: So much fresh green growth in the garden. Growth on both hydrangeas, the honeyberry, honeysuckle and guelder rose. Astilbe seems to have put on 4 inches of growth overnight. Everything looks fabulously full of promise for the spring. Pond-ful of toad spawn. Everything feels supercharged with energy and promise.
Hmmms
Main disappointment has been the daffodils – there have been two flowers, one of which was demolished by slugs, others came up blind (Monty Don has had the same problem apparently, so not feeling too bad about it. He blames the weather in the autumn, so so shall I). Will remove the bulbs in the pot with the birch tree when I top dress it. Forsythia also disappointing, some flowers but not as many as last year.
Weather
It rained and rained and rained, and then it rained some more.
Sole Trader PR 