Get set, sow!

Well, it's been pretty much the same old in my green house and polytunnel. I've been reusing all my old seed trays to continue with sowing seeds in preparation for this year. I've also taken part in the Big Garden Bird Watch, which is something I found enjoyable and relaxing. It was great to catch sight of winter garden visitors such as the Black Cap along with some gregarious bird species like Long Tailed Tits and Blue Tits. 

Sowing

I've finally started seeing some growth in the heated propagators. The tomatoes that I had sown last week have made a good start and I'm pleased that it's going well so far. This time I've carried on with the remaining tomato varieties and have sown some chillies and aubergines. These are all in windowsill style trays that fit neatly on, yes you guessed it, window sills. This means I can have them in the house and the warmth should do the trick. 

Pencils come in handy as little dibbers!

Wildlife

As it's still very cold out there, I'm not touching anything in the garden that could be home to wildlife. It's really important to make sure that you don't disturb anything that may be hibernating and that includes insects as as well as reptiles and mammals. 

I've been cleaning and topping up the water in the bird baths more frequently as they have been freezing over and early mornings I've woken up to see birds struggling to find a drink. As a rule, I always use rainwater for the bird baths. This is because it's free of heavy metals and chlorine, which is not good for wildlife. The same applies to ponds. 

Bird feeders have also been cleaned and topped up. I've got lots of coconut shells with suet and seed mixes. When they are emptied (and the birds pick them clean), I will find another use for them - an experiment closer to summer so look out for that.

I bought some Rosa rugosa for another wildlife hedge. These came bare root, so I will plant them out in a month or so. They should provide food and a home to a variety of creatures.

Wormery

The wormery continues to give me worm tea but at the moment I have stopped filling it. The worms are not as active as they used to be and I'm putting that down to the chilly weather. The wormery is in a sheltered spot, but I will need to move it in spring when I get my new greenhouse. Thanks to Freecycle, I already have paving stones for the flooring. With a wormery, you'll need to place it somewhere where it doesn't get too hot or too cold. I'm still to decide where it'll go.

Further prep

Admittedly, I haven't done much with the no dig patch of late. To be honest it's probably down to a mix of having little time and being a little lazy when I have got time. Around 60% of the patch is completed but I'm also starting to fall short of compost, so a little planning needs to go into what I'll be doing with that.

Well, till next time!