A cold, snowy start to March

A cold, snowy start to March

What a week it was starting on the last day of February & lasting most of the first week of March. Although we got off rather lightly compared to some, we still had a lot of snow, ice & a terribly cold wind from the East, all the way from Siberia! My wife & I were virtual prisoners in our own home for 3 or 4 days! We dared not go out because of the wind & snow & our food supplies were practically out by Monday 5th March! To top it all the supermarkets wouldn’t deliver either! My wife tried to do some shopping online (March 1st) but they weren’t taking orders. At last we were able to go shopping & restock some of the things we had become very short of. We had only food for just one more day so the thaw & rise in temps came just at the right time!

I took some photos of the balcony & the street where we live but not being able to get out I haven’t been able to get any more photos of the town here.

Snow on Mayfield Road seen from the balcony:

Seagulls & snow seen from the side of Suffolk House:

I got a great 40 seconds of video of these gulls wheeling around in the air & even coming down to pick up some bread from the grass at the back of the building! Shame I can’t put it on here!

Snow covering plants & Tulips on the balcony:

Snow covering plants in trough on the balcony:

Snow on troughs on balcony floor:

Enough of snowy pictures, lets see some plants!

I have a couple of Marguerite standards on the balcony which my friend, Dick, from church gave me last summer. I feared they would die with such low temps as we had even though I had I wrapped them up with some thick plastic & put them on the balcony table behind the mini-greenhouse. I even put some fleece over the plants themselves inside the plastic. It seems the 3 measures saved them as when I took it all off of them on Sunday, (4th) they seemed to be alive still!

Marguerite standard on balcony table still flowering:

That is the most sheltered corner on the balcony & it’s where I normally keep any plants that might not resist the frosts of winter.

I also have some Fuchsia standards from Dick. Two of them fit inside the mini-green house but there was no room for the third one. It has had to take its luck on the balcony floor. Later though I did put it with the Marguerite standards on the table behind the mini-greenhouse. I scratched a tiny bit of bark off of a thickish stem & it seemed to be green underneath so perhaps it will survive after all! The two Fuchsias in the greenhouse should have no problem with surviving, even though one may look completely dead. With them there are a couple of Geraniums & a few other more delicate plants.

Fuchsia standards in mini-greenhouse on balcony table:

Fuchsias in tub partly under table on balcony:

Since taking this photo the plants have lost practically all their leaves & one plant in the front right hand corner may not make it through. A few days ago I scratched off a little bark on a branch & it looked green still – so there’s hope yet!

These are my own plants from previous years. I put 4 of my own Fuchsia cutting that rooted at the end of 2016 in this tub last year & the ‘Lady Boothby’ cutting in the centre which has astounded me by growing over 2m (6ft) in just one season!

Marguerite cutting rooted in mini greenhouse on balcony table:

The rooted cutting of a Marguerite sharing their accommodation has also survived!

Marguerite cuttings just taken:

I took a few cutting of the Marguerites before the “Beast from the East” arrived even though it’s not the right time of year.

I thought they may root but even if they don’t the ones outside on the balcony will probably be killed by the extreme cold. So I’ve nothing to lose. The cuttings indoors seem to be alright so I may end up with more plants than I bargained on! But that doesn’t matter as they flower so well all summer!

Today (7th) I had to remove a plant of Tradescantia fluminensis that couldn’t survive the -6C we had on March 1st in a tub on the balcony. In its place I broke up & sprinkled the contents of a seedhead from the Marguerites on the surface of the soil. Now to await their germination – if there were any seeds in it & if they can survive the cold from the next few weeks.

I will let you know if they germinate.

Pansies for winter flowering on balcony

Pansies for winter flowering on balcony

My wife & I went to a nearby town, St Ives, Cambs (not the more famous one in Cornwall!), 8km-5miles away today, 13th October 2014, to see if we could get some winter plants to put on the balcony. I was looking for the usual Pansies &/or Violas. We found a street stall selling plants & bought 4 packs of Pansies (Mixed colours), each pack holds 20 plants, giving me 80 plants in all.

Trying to work out just how many I needed I calculated 15 plants (3 rows of five, staggered) in each of the 3 long white troughs on the balcony floor =45. Then 2 plants in each of the 10 pots along the top of the balcony railings = 20. Then at least another five in each of the small troughs that sit of the rail that goes all around the middle of the railings =15. So 45+20+15=80! Pure coincidence as I didn’t know how many I wanted before arriving at the stall because, as I told my wife, it depended on the size of the plants. If they had been very small plants I’d need more, big plants & I’d need less!

I still need another pack of 20 though for my 5 hanging baskets on the balcony! Though that would be the bare minimum & double that amount would be F-A-R better!

When we arrived at the town, St Ives, we were somewhat dismayed to find we had made the trip in vain on what was a horrible morning – cold, raining & a strong North-West wind making it feel even colder though the thermometer read 12ºC! :-(( The traditional Monday street market had been cancelled to make way for the ‘Michaelmas Fair’! The main street where the market is normally held was chock-a-block with fairground amusements & attractions! We walked down to the far end thinking the market had been temporarily relocated down there & was hidden from our sight by the fairground. But there was nothing but more attractions down there.

Convinced there was no market at all we started to wander about the street & looked into some shop windows while we made our way back to the bus station to catch the next bus back home. When we reached the station we saw the next bus was 10 minutes away from arriving. As there are two different companies that both have buses between the two towns we went over to the stop when the 2nd one left from. As we were nearing the stop I couldn’t believe my eyes – over the far side of the bus station I could see plant stalls! Although the market itself had been cancelled the two plant stalls had turned up & were installed just outside of the bus station itself! We hurried over, forgetting all about the bus times, to have a look around. We very soon found they both had a very similar array of Pansies of differing sizes & prices. At the 2nd stall they had an offer of 2 boxes of 20 plants in each for just £8! We snapped up 4 boxes immediately & would have got another couple if we’d been able to manage them!

As we made our way back to the bus stop a bus we were hoping to catch arrived, some people got off & others got on which gave me the opportunity to get alongside it but the driver closed the doors & pulled out not taking any notice of my trying to signal him to wait a moment longer so we could get on! I don’t know of course if he really saw me but couldn’t be bothered to stop or if he genuinely didn’t see me. They are on a very tight timetable & have very little leeway. Anyway there are 4 buses an hour so it only meant a wait of 15 minutes. It it had been the first of the two it would have meant a 2 hour wait for the next!

We got home & the window of three hours with none, or very little rain, continued open so we only got a little wet while waiting for the bus to take us to St Ives. Now I will have to wait a day or two before I can plant them out. I may garden on a balcony but I’m as subject to the vulgarities of the weather as well as any other gardener who has to work outside. The prevailing wind direction (SW) means the rain is blown directly into our faces, so to speak, as the balcony faces SW! So I have to wait for a dry day before I can go out & plant them!

Lettuce ‘Winter Gem’ sown today

 

Lettuce ‘Winter Gem’ sown today

Today I sowed the seeds of Lettuce ‘Winter Gem’ that I got a couple of weeks ago in a swap. I sowed them in a big pot in the greenhouse down on Gerry’s allotment.

Lettuce ‘Winter Gem’ just sown:

I’ve grown Lettuces out on the plot over the winter but not in the greenhouse. Though at the end of the winter 2013 I did sow some in a seedtray in the greenhouse …

Lettuce ‘Little Gem’ with true leaves:

Here are a couple of photos for the Lettuces ‘Little Gem’ that I grew in the GH border during April & May 2013:

I also grew some from the same tray in the bed just in front of the GH door. I’ve put some photos in so you can see them as well:

The GH is unheated (even some glass is missing!) so I was interested to see just how much difference it would make to the them. With regards to the temperature there would be very little difference, maybe a trifle warmer in the GH on any days with a little sunshine but as we had a cold, wet spring this year temperature can be ruled out. But we did however have a lot of rain & cold winds. There the difference was notable.

The ones growing in the GH were protected from wind & rain & therefore the leaves were thinner & not quite such a dark green …

‘Little Gem’ in greenhouse border 13th May 2013:

… as the ones growing outside & having to face up to the inclement weather:

‘Little Gem’ near greenhouse 13th May 2013: