Planting Lily Bulbs, chitting Potatoes and pruning Ferns as things begin to warm up in the garden

It is that time of year when space in the Conservatory and on any sunny windowsill in the house is slowly but surely being taken up by things. I have the Potatoes currently chitting in the Conservatory sitting happily in old egg boxes for now until ready to plant, probably the second or third week of March. I often used the Cheltenham Festival as a guide for planting my spuds, horse racing being another love of mine, and the Monday of that week usually sees me planting spuds before the horse racing begins on the Tuesday. 

This year I have chosen to try one of those 'kits' a number of the online sites offer. In the box delivered recently I have Charlotte, a tasty salad potato, Pentland Javelin, an early variety that will hopefully produce loads of small, tasty spuds, best simply boiled and Desiree which I am told is decent for chips and roasties. The kit comes complete with three thirty litre pots, which certainly look pretty solid, and a bag of Organic Potato Fertiliser. I have had some success growing potatoes in bags in the past and I am hopeful this will prove just as successful if not better. I am not expecting some of the giant tubers I have had in the past growing in the ground but one definite benefit to growing in containers is you are much less likely to have problems with pests. I have lost getting on for a quarter of the crop before now to slug damage, they simply won't store if the little blighters have got at them, and even though I was still left with plenty it is heart-breaking to compost so many spuds...............

The Potatoes will soon be joined but an array of pots with Tomatoes in. I am actually a bit late for me sowing the toms this year, I often sow in January, but it was so very cold in January this year it seemed pointless to try and beat mother nature and with energy bills as they are I didn't want the heating in the conservatory ramped up day and night!  

Everything that had been placed in the Greenhouse during the worst of the weather appears fine, even the Cordyline that really suffered in the cold and snow appears to be perking up and has been placed back outside with night time temperatures forecast above freezing moving forward; I will be keeping an eye out for any potential frosts though. 

I was able to plant the Tower Lily Pretty Woman bulbs into the white border recently, the ground having defrosted,  and with a bit of moving about fill the gaps left by the three Lillum Casa Blanca that had their tops chewed off, I assume by a squirrel, last year. Hopefully I now have a line at the back of the border that comprises of three Lillum Casa Blanca at either end and five Tower Lily Pretty Woman in the middle. Chicken wire will be placed over them as they begin to show to deter any critters that fancy a nibble. 

The Jonkheer van Teets Red Currant bushes planted last month appear healthy and the first signs of buds opening can be seen. 

There are plenty of jobs to be getting on with over the coming days, two of the more urgent ones for me being grasses to be cut down and Ferns to be tidied and pruned. My Fern corner took a bit of a bashing recently by a couple of friends of mine visiting dogs; Mutley and Levi decided it was a lovely corner in which to have a lay down! Luckily Ferns are pretty resilient and are easy enough to prune. I simply snip off any dead or ragged fronds before the new buds start to unfurl in spring, cutting them off at the base with secateurs taking care not to damage any newly developing fronds. It is always a good idea to clear away the debris to encourage good air circulation.

My latest article for the Romford Recorder was published last week and can be found on page 32. You can view it here: Romford Recorder (pagesuite.com)

Cheers 🍺