#SeaOfGreen

Where does the time go? After a few rollercoaster weeks when temperatures dipped to almost freezing and then peaked in hot summer sunshine, they have finally levelled out and a breezy mid spring is in full flow. I’m buzzing around my garden and greenhouses like a bumbling bee.

I’m trying to keep on top of pricking out and potting on a huge amount of plants. I think it’s fair to say those gin and tonics may have meant I got rather carried away so I will possibly have enough plants on my hands to plant up a garden three times the size of my own. At the moment my priority is to get my young plants out into the fresh air so the wind can work its magic. Something called ‘thigmomorphogenesis’ can be really important right now if you want stocky, healthy specimens and not tall, weak, lanky, lush growth.

‘Thingy-mo’ (as I call it) is the plant’s response to mechanical sensation, which alters their growth patterns. In my garden it’s all about exposing my young plants to the subtle effects of wind, raindrops, and the occasional brush of a passing,  sniffing Jack Russell, which causes them to wave about and grow strong and sturdy.

April and May is also ‘pelleted chicken manure time’. I like to sprinkle just a few around plants right now as it’s that time when they’re hungry for extra nitrogen and there’s nothing like these stinky pellets of goodness to give plants that extra punch.

I’m itching to plant out too, but first I want to ‘place’ rather than ‘plant’ in order to get my super, flower-powered display fully colour co-ordinated in my four favourite colours – rich red, tangerine orange, golden yellow and deepest pink. That’s when the fun really starts.