One of the great things about gardening is that it is by nature optimistic and forward looking. Almost every job that we do is an investment in the future. In a country like Britain where there is a distinct rhythm to the seasons, this optimism is especially rewarding in spring. Spring bulbs are the confirmation that earlier work is bearing fruit and that longer, warmer days are on their way.

The “galanthophiles” will claim that snowdrops are the harbingers of the new year, but for Mark the sheer joyous colours of crocuses is the thing that shows that spring is really on the way.

Crocuses among leaf litter

Crocuses 11 March

A little later there is nothing like a classic daffodil to confirm that the worst of the winter is behind us.

Daffodils in the sun

While at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow we stumbled across a hidden gem thanks to a small note in a tourist map.  This was the rose garden in Tollcross Park https://glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3743.

We were lucky to wander up on a quiet day and find the gardener undertaking the ongoing task of dead heading (over 4,000 plants make for a lot of dead heads).  He was kind enough to take a break and explain the history of the garden and the international trials conducted there.

Our attempted panoramic photograph doesn’t really do it justice, but if you’re ever up that way, drop in and wander round – it is truly spectacular.

Tollcross Park

Has the weather really got wierder over the past few years or do we just notice it more now that it matters so much more – frosts in the late spring affect gardeners as well as plants.

Since starting this business (and series of blogs) we have had two hot, dry springs (2011 and 2012), both followed by soggy summers and a bitterly cold spring in 2013.  Last autumn and this winter have seen the wettest few months that we can remember – official stats seem to agree with our memories.  We have been relatively lucky with regard to flooding, most of the properties in the village seem to have escaped without being inundated, despite the fact that the Thames runs through the heart of Cookham.  The flood plain seems to have done its job and while there were moments when it looked as though it was close to capacity, there were some millions of gallons of water that were held on field for a few days before returning to the river.  Had this all gone downstream at the same time the damage further down the river would have been even worse than it was.  This “lake” is normally pastureland with a small pond frequented by ducks and swans.

Widbrook Common

All this water has an effect on gardening as well, much of the ground is now so wet that setting foot on it starts to compress it and damage the structure.  This means that the sensible option is to steer clear of the soil and that therefore some of the jobs normally done at this time of year are on hold, for example pruning fruit trees.  For many of these jobs there is a window of opportunity and it is likely that things will dry up before this window closes, so as ever patience is the gardener’s friend.  More irritating is that the unseasonable warmth means that weeds are continuing to grow, yet beds, lawns and borders are so soft that weeding sessions could make more mess than they clean up.  A couple of clear cold weeks would help to get everything back into balance.

In the meantime there is plenty to be done indoors, propagation continues and seed sowing is imminent.  Outdoors there is always the promise of spring and these crocuses sprouting amongst the primulas will soon be in full bloom.

A promise of spring

There was rather a flurry of news coverage last year about the role that amateur growers had played in spreading potato blight during last summer.

Allan Stevenson, Chairman of the Potato Council said. “… the blight risk is real and it would be preferable if people bought healthy, well produced potatoes from their retailer rather than grow their own.”

Some of the analysis at the time seemed to be over simplistic, suggesting that professional growers were the only ones who knew what they were doing.  Whereas in reality the very different growing regimes require different approaches.

Amateur growers know that they have no serious chemical options available and therefore rely on good to minimise the impact, and spread, of blight and ensure a crop that can be stored. Good practice here is based on the level of individual plants.

Commercial growers have access to fungicides that control blight, but the scale of a farm-scale operation makes individual plant husbandry impractical.  Good practice here is based on the crop as a whole.

So we have two different styles, both of which I would regard as equally valid.

However, in conversation with a farmer last summer I was told that the weather was so bad that sprays were being washed off before they had chance to work.  Thus making the blight situation far worse than usual in the commercial sector.

This January, a comment piece by Liaa Leendertz in the RHS’s Garden Magazine advocated giving up “tricky annual crops” such as potatoes.  This is a position with which I heartily disagree.  On practical grounds, it is relatively easy to grow a reliable crop of potatoes (as an amateur) through careful selection of varieties and good husbandry.  I know from conversations with other growers that we are not the only people still using sound potatoes stored from last year’s crop.

Practicality is only half the story.  A main reason why we will continue to grow potatoes on the allotment is romance.  The emergence of the fresh green shoots in April and May is a real sign that spring has arrived.

The potato beds 14 May 2011

 Then when it comes to harvest time, is there any crop that epitomises the accrual of buried treasure as much as potatoes.  Root crops offer a venture into the unknown, but each carrot top is one carrot (however good bad or indifferent), whereas each potato haulm is a signifier of an unknown trove waiting to be discovered.

Buried treasure

So our recommendation is be practical:

• choose varieties that are disease resistant;
• choose varieties that will grow well in your climate and soil;
• feed them well;
• stay on top of weeds and pests; and
• monitor carefully for signs of disease and act accordingly.

Then you can enjoy the romance of harvest time.

As the year heads to a close, we’ve been reflecting on the most successful crops (and the others) of 2012.  Broadly speaking vegetative crops did well, while the fruiting ones struggled rather more.

Cabbages have done well, with our existing favourites ‘Minicole’ and ‘Kalibos’ which provided steady cropping from August until October, when we cut the remaining heads for storage and anticipate that these will keep us going until the end of the year.  We also have some January King that will hopefully stand through the winter and see us on to February.

The dwarf French beans that we grew ‘Sonesta’ were excellent, high yielding, tasty and the bright yellow pods made them easy to spot and therefore easy to pick while they were still young.

Beetroot was again a solid performer especially ‘Boltardy’, the ‘Burpees Golden’ were tasty but did not give such a good yield.  We had a bit of a problem with germination in the first instance, possibly because things got so dry in March (remember that).

Another outside crop that did well, perhaps surprisingly bearing in mind the weather was the sweet corn ‘Swift’.  We had a glorious few weeks in late summer when every meal was started off with fresh sweet corn.  We will be sticking with this cultivar.

Some of this year's crops

In the greenhouse, the cucumber that we grew ‘Lemon Crystal’ was also a star performer, the small(ish) round yellow fruits tasted good and provided an attractive splash of colour in salads.  Later in the year the remaining fruits provided a good base for pickle-making.  We had some success with ‘Big Jim’ chillis, which are quite mild, but grow to a spectacular size.  The ‘Twilight’ chillis that we grew outside are much perkier, but the wet cool weather meant a pretty poor crop.  ‘Twilight’ has done well before, so we’re happy to blame the weather.

Big Jim Chilli

The big let down of the year were the cucurbits.  The ‘Yellow Orelia’ courgette kept us going, but aside from that the yield from the various pumpkins and squashes was very disappointing.  Given how well these plants performed last year it was a double blow to have so few fruits available for storage.  The one bright spot was the lovely flavour of the ‘Uchiki Kuri’ squash, which have earned a place in next plans in the hope that the weather will allow more to grow and ripen.

Even though the cabbages did well, we had more problems with some other brassicas.  The cauliflowers were chewed off by slugs/snails before they got going and the calabrese threw up very small heads, most of which turned to flower before we could harvest them.

All in all it was a year with more pluses than minuses and even the setbacks have not quenched our enthusiasm.  Next year’s seeds have arrived and the spreadsheet on the study wall reminds us that it is only a few weeks before we start sowing again.

An earlier ‘Musing’ described the importance of manageable plots for fruit and vegetable growing as we concluded that it was best to “think big but start small”.

This issue of manageable plots has come to the fore in our minds recently with regard to our small back garden, which ought to be easily manageable.  However, with poor weather over the summer and other growing priorities, the allotment and Mark’s kitchen garden work, we let the back garden slide.  The odd burst of weeding and a hasty mow when weather permitted kept things just about under control, but a closer look revealed that chunks of the garden were growing out of control.

A few weeks ago a pleasant afternoon stimulated a burst of activity.  The immediate visual improvement provided the catalyst to a concerted effort of pruning, weeding and tidying to the point where we now have a fairly solid framework for the next few years and are planning further developments for next spring.

The impetus provided by some positive visual feedback was quite remarkable, but should not have been that surprising.  Mark has already seen this in a couple of jobs, where bringing a garden or vegetable plot back under control has stimulated the interest of the owners and inspired renewed efforts, overcoming the inertia that had been built up by the depressing spectacle of an out of control bed.

Sometimes it needs the purchase of a little extra external effort to overcome the inertia, sometimes a small focused effort that yields a tangible reward in terms of the aesthetics of the plot can be enough to re-invigorate the inner gardener, however much we have been beaten down by the weather.  If you can see the difference, so can other people, but more importantly if you can see the difference, you know it was worth the effort.