March Garden Diary: Seeds and New Arrivals

My six for this Saturday includes a random selection as I dodge the showers and mosquitoes. Rain, glorious rain. I never thought as a Brit I’d be praying and then celebrating the heavy downpours we’ve experienced recently. Designed to retain moisture with slow drainage, my raised vegetable beds are flooded, but that’s okay.

First Seed Sowing

Last year, Fred, the French Gardener, kindly sent me a selection of tomato seeds (the seeds in neat poly bags). Today, I planted the cherry tomatoes ‘Black Cocktail’ and another cherry tomato ‘Orange Hat’. I also planted some of the black tomatoes and yellow peppers, which I had great success with last year. Unfortunately, most of the black tomato seeds I’d saved had turned mouldy in the humidity.

Once I’d planted the seeds—of course, one job leads to another—Mr Piglet had to move one of the cold frames to a more accessible space. (It was previously tucked in by the hedge, and I’d seen a snake hiding there last year.)

I lined the bottom with plastic, put on the lid, and covered it with open plastic crates to offer some filtered shade.

Now we wait.

Hand Rail

I asked Mr Piglet to make a rustic handrail to help me balance as I walk down the steps to the pool area. Just a simple rail has made all the difference. All the posts were repurposed from around the garden. And yes, the sky was really that black. Sun and blue skies at the front of the house and black at the back.

Dragona

I acquired some cuttings of Dragona plants. Yellow, red and white. I hope I have labelled them correctly as the guy said the yellow flowers are the prettiest.

He said this is the Dragona fruit. Are you familiar with it? I’m not.

Arum Lily

I love Arum lilies, so when I saw one for sale on a market stall in Lagos, I could not resist. When I bought it, it was a little waterlogged. A week later, the excess water seems to have had no adverse effect.

A New Bromeliad

When I bought a new bromeliad from a small garden centre that had just opened, I knew the plant was pot-bound. However, I didn’t realise the roots must have been sitting in water for some time. When I cut away the pot, the roots were brown and the soil waterlogged.

I divided the plant into four and then repotted in dry soil. After watching the YouTube video, which advises, I’m not convinced I planted them snug enough. “Tight in the pot. allow and inch or two around outside and a couple of inches around the bottom.”

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Freesias Growing in Pots

I grow most of my Freesias in pots. Once they have flowered, I feed the plants and let the foliage die off and the soil dry out before storing them in a corner of the garden until late autumn, out of view. They make excellent cut flowers.

In a Vase on Monday: Same Arrangement Different Settings

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