February in my garden

This winter has been particularly warm: we didn't have snow and not much frost either. A couple of perennials in my front yard, namely a geranium and plenty of gazanias, which always die out in winter, are still green and even shyly flowering right now. For this reason my prettiest tulips are now coming out in between the gazanias, which is just fine, only a little bit crowded.

In the front of the main garden, the usual spring bulb suspects are showing off their colours: white snowdrops, bright yellow, purple and white crocus and the pretty yellow tete-a-tete which bloom earlier than other daffodils.

In the back of the main garden, the hazel flowers are dying out, while the helleborus are in full luscious bloom and the beautiful camellias are slowly coming out.

So starts my favourite time of the year. From now on, there will be a line of new flowers all the way to Autumn.

At home, I already started sowing some early seeds in mid-February. This year I'm making a bit of an experiment and starting to sow before the recommended time. I hope the warmth of indoors and the sun from my south windows will be enough to make these sowings successful. And I hope to have larger plants when the time comes and the winter frosts are over, which where I live means early May. Yes, it's a long way yet and I'm also hoping I don't make a mess and run out of space in the house when all the tiny seedlings turn into teenage plants.

This year I'm planning on making another experiment: to grow salad in my garage. Lettuce and other salad leaves have very shallow roots and it's possible to grow them in relatively flat trays. In winter there are two problems: one, not enough light (in addition, my garage's only window faces north), two, it may be too cold for salad even in the garage. To solve the first problem, I bought a grow light. I intend to start immediately and, if successful, to grow small amounts all winter from now on. Salads, like lettuce and rocket, are quite resistant to cold, so I hope the second problem will not affect my experiment. Only time will tell.

Other tasks for February: divide or pot up mint, apply organic fertiliser (use the recommended amount and mix it in the soil with a garden fork or a hoe), prune Viburnum tinus.