Gardens have a habit of keeping you in suspense. Here are six things I'm waiting for in my garden right now...
Anyone who spends time gardening will soon find themselves wondering if something's going to happen, or when. This element of uncertainty created by nature is all part of the fun, and what makes it addictive. I can't help wanting to go out there to see if whatever it is I'm expecting to happen has happened yet.
This expectation simultaneously creates excitement and frustration. On the one hand nature is fairly reliable - seeds will germinate, things will grow, plants will flower. This allows us to look forward with confidence as we anticipate these things in the knowledge we will enjoy them when they arrive.
On the other hand, nature remains just unpredictable enough and sufficiently unable to be tamed, that we feel we cannot take anything for granted. Plants also die, and may not flower when expected, or turn out to be a different colour from what we thought.
For all the control we exert over our garden, we remain at the whim of the weather, the climate, plant genes, the nature of the earth and environment around us. Whilst we can influence things we can't ultimately force anything to happen, we can only encourage, hope and wait.
What on earth am I on about? Well here are six examples of things I'm currently waiting for in my garden.
Proper spring weather
Our expectation is that spring brings warm sunshine and we can start planting outside and stop protecting things from frost. This year, March brought snowdrifts and sub zero temperatures normally associated with January in this part of the world.
Everything has been held back a couple of weeks as plants remain dormant for longer, or suffered damage and have been set back after getting started before the cold snap.
Related: Has cold weather killed my plants?
Even as we enter April, it's pretty chilly. I'm waiting for it to get warmer before sowing more seeds, or planting out things like sweet peas, which for now are waiting patiently in the coldframe for the chance to get into the garden proper.
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| Seedlings in the coldframe |
Clematis
I have four different clematis around the garden. March has been so cold that some early shoots were killed off. They are getting going again so now I'm waiting to see if they can survive the onslaught by the slugs. Last year was pretty disastrous - two out of four were totally ruined and barely reached flowering stage, so I'm being more vigilant this year and hoping for a better display.
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| This clematis looks triumphant, but it's early yet... |
Frogspawn
Last week I made a pond! A very small one, with the aim of providing just enough of a water feature to attract some additional wildlife to hang around in the garden. The whole project was done in a day and cost just £21! I'll be writing about how I did it soon.
In particular, it would be really good to have some frogs or toads eating lots of slugs (see clematis above) so I transferred a jar full of frogspawn from another pond nearby and released it into ours.
It disappeared under the water rather than float so I have no idea whether it will remain viable. I'm waiting to see if any tadpoles appear, or whether other frogs discover our little patch of water and decide to stay.
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| Frogspawn |
Hawthorn
My hawthorn is now several years old and has yet to produce a single flower. It is starting to unfurl it's new growth again now so what is becoming an annual ritual of looking for them has begun again. I haven't pruned it this year so I see no reason why it won't produce flowering shoots. The scent, and later the berries, would be a wonderful addition to the mini woodland area I have so I am really hoping it will finally produce.
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| Hawthorn (Crataegus) |
Japanese cherry
This is Prunus incisa "Koja no mai". It has just started flowering, and already brightening up the oriental part of the garden, but I am waiting for it to reach its peak. When it's in full bloom it looks like a white hazy cloud hovering above the ground. It just takes a bit of time.
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| Prunus incisa (Japanese cherry) |
Tulips
Nothing says "April" in the garden more than tulips, but at the end of March we have this subtle, teasing, hint of colour on the outside, before they open in a week or two. You can see they're getting ready to show off their true splendour, but not yet!
You can look as many times as you want but they will decide when they open, not you. We can plant them and look after them, but ultimately, nature has at least as much control over them as we do, which is why we end up watching, and waiting.
You can look as many times as you want but they will decide when they open, not you. We can plant them and look after them, but ultimately, nature has at least as much control over them as we do, which is why we end up watching, and waiting.
This post is part of a link up: Six on Saturday, organised by The Propagator. Visit his site to have a nose at loads of other people's gardens. I'll be back soon with more from my garden.
If you're growing your own fruit and veg, make sure you check out my posts from The 80 Minute Allotment - just click on the tab at the top of this post, or subscribe for regular updates on growing your own in under two hours a week.