Less veg, more bulbs

Not quite nailing self sufficiency but very pretty

Even though I've now acquired a little christmas tree (one that I have to keep alive in its pot), I still can't quite get my head around the fact that it will be christmas in just ten days or that there’s less than three weeks to the new year. Work in the garden is never finished but I’ve spent most of last week working in other people’s gardens. However, it looks as though this will be the week that I get some time to sort out my own garden spaces and finally plant my spring bulbs. They could be summer bulbs if I don’t get on with it.

This year I ordered bulbs in from the Netherlands - a very tempting website with a sale on ... 50% off! now 70% off! Only for 48 hours! Yes, I succumbed. Twice. The first batch arrived a couple of weeks ago, the second only yesterday so now I can pair them up into the kaleidoscope of colours and shapes that flashed through my mind when I looked online. Yes, I am thinking purple and orange tulips with fritillaria in a couple of large pots. There will also be pink and red tulips and daffs, but the colours are secondary to providing food for bumble bees in spring; they’re active earlier than honey bees and need to feed. And I need them to stick around for pollinating the fruit tree blossom!

It's the simple things that make me happy!

Meanwhile the veg garden slumbers on. Everything has slowed right down with the shorter days but I still have a few winter carrots and beetroot, plus chard, leeks and kale that will stand through the coldest months waiting to be picked. There's also a single tiny cauliflower that magically escaped being ravaged by slugs earlier this year, small and perfectly formed - who knew that the sight of a cauliflower could spark such joy! And let's not forget the mystery plant that looks nothing like the dark Cavolo Nero kale written on its label. Fingers crossed it will turn out to be a broccoli of some description. 

So, before I go and plant bulbs and spread muck (literally), one last piece of news ... I'm in print! The article I wrote for Garden Answers magazine came out last week; I was asked to write about life on the veg patch in January. Other garden bloggers will follow on in the series, so I'm really looking forward to reading their articles.  It's a great mag, well worth a read - and, haha, I'm not just saying that because I'm in it!