Half term came and went rather quickly with the teens. Mornings were mostly spent by myself until one or both of them surfaced at noon for food! I too found my mornings slightly more at a lazy pace which was actually quite a refreshing break.
Monday morning returned to the early alarm and the mad panic to get food into them before busses and trains. However, what we all noticed was the change in light. 7am and the light had suddenly returned! We had lazed through this change over the holidays but now we could all appreciate it.
On the 14th February I couldn’t wait for a day longer - I cracked open the seed tin and started to sift though the early germination options. Statice, Rudebekia (which takes ages to grow by the way), Phlox, Cornflowers, Ammi and Campanula to name a few were bundled into my coat pocket and headed out to the warmth of the grow mat!
For any flower grower this is a turning point in the calendar. Finally, we get to play for hours in the greenhouse, germinating seeds, pricking seedlings out. It becomes a daily ritual of checking in on their growth! It never ceases to be anything other than pure excitement when that little seed germinates! Try it if you haven’t already. A warm, south facing window cil will work if you don’t have a greenhouse…I’ve even got Cornflowers germinating on the bathroom window at the moment!
It is also this time of year that I always wish I had grown more little things in pots - not for clients, just for me! Monty Don and his bulb table which he recently shared made me curse my quantity choices yet again this year. I was however saved by my dear flower friend Emily Talling of 3Acre who kindly gifted me some Bulbocodium Narcissi having carelessly not added them to my basket in the made rush that is bulb ordering season. Have I ever told you how stressful it is getting large bulb orders in?!!….Dahlia tuber shopping is no better either. There are certainly more people growing flowers now than when I started 13 years ago. Some websites even have a timer on your basket…this just adds to the brain fog panic in my case!
So as we race to the end of February and March is only a few days away more of my time will be spent outside faffing with the plants.
I hope you are all enjoying the return to light as much as I am. xx
