Planting the first seeds of the new year
For the past few weeks, Spring has been making fleeting appearances in the garden; cameos of snowdrops and hellebores against the stark, bare backdrop of winter. But now buds are showing on the fruit trees, daffodils are in full bloom and spring is now centre stage, which means lots of work backstage to create a stunning performance for the next act. In this garden at least, it means a great deal of time sowing seeds in the greenhouse. Frosts make outdoor sowings impossible, so undercover it is. ( The first Camellia's of Spring) We've been sowing seeds for this garden for over 30 years and the novelty has never worn off. I still smile every time I see seeds debuting through dark, damp compost. We have a large propagator which provides both protection and bottom heat to make germination faster. It is thermostatically controlled, recording both the temperatures inside the greenhouse and the propagator. Now being able to control the propagator heat is easy eno...
