There really is only so much you can do in January.

Nevertheless, the (comparatively) warmer weather that was forecast for the last few days got me out to the garden, mostly in a desperate bid to curb the burgeoning slug population. I just knew they'd be out and about and ever so active as soon as the temperature would hover around 10ºC. More of the cheapest possible lager from Lidl, this time offered in a variety of receptacles was again very popular, but at the same time I worry it'll have made hardly a dent to the teeming, slimy masses closing in on my few ailing brassicas - and the Digitalis.

The top plate sits on the sticks.

I've also sorted through my stash of seed packets and sowed some; a few perennials, sweet peas, and a winter lettuce. They're all in the little completely unheated greenhouse outside for now, while I figure out a way to cat-proof a window sill: being sat upon or dug at will not improve chances of germination.

~~~

I'm on Suttons' mailing list, and today they entice me with this:

Ribes aureum 'Fourberry Black Gem'

Apparently it'll only grow to 1.2-1.5 m tall, with presumably similar spread, so I just might have room for *one*. I'd dearly love to have some soft fruit, but space, especially sunny space, is an issue. Shall think upon this.

Also...

The bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica, almost certainly) that came with the garden are well on their way up. Perhaps this year I'll replant some meaningfully.

Right in front of the greenhouse, too.

Plus there's a mouse frequenting the bird feeders. Not looking forward to dealing with that one.

Revision time

The skills test for the Practical Horticulture module is tomorrow, so I used the need to practice as an excuse to get outside.

I mixed a seed sowing compost from a Lidl general purpose compost and horticultural sand for some green manure seed. I sowed them by the book, except for sieving the compost for the lack of a soil sieve. The green manure seeds sown in the back part of the garden back in October mostly went for the birds again, so if the weather holds I'll be able to plant on some seedlings instead.

They might even germinate!

The wonderfully deep magenta christmas hyacinths from Ikea had gone over rather, but I want to try to get them bloom outside come spring next year.

*wilt*

 Thusly, as a second practice, I made a bulb planting compost mix from:

1/6 horticultural sand

1/6 vermiculite

4/6 compost

A pinch of seaweed meal

Vermiculite & sand

A very free-draining mixture, this.

I wanted to separate the bulbs, but, well...

Pot pound, much?

For the compost part of the mixture I went for half Lidl general purpose, half B&Q house plant compost. The latter is stored indoors and I didn't want to give the roots too much of a temperature shock (this is VERY IMPORTANT. anything unable to regulate its own temperature can die from a fast change in temperature even when it would survive both temperatures, given a chance to acclimatise.).

Potted with some pebbles at the bottom of the pot for drainage, slightly deeper than originally. I've no idea if that's the right thing to do, but they'll be planted even deeper when they go out. Once the weather's reliably a bit warmer I'll harden them off via the greenhouse and plant them in a corner somewhere.

Sorting through my stash of seed packets probably wasn't strictly necessary for revision. Also, there are now all of three Roosters chitting on kitchen window sill for my "learn to grow potatoes in case of an apocalypse" project. Heh.

Today In The Garden

I was just going to finally haul the two boxes I planted with pansies, smaller violas and some bulbs back in ...November? to the front of the house.
Hah.
A missed lunch later, I only made it back in before keeling over because it had started to rain in earnest. This always happens. :)

In any case, instead of working on my Plant ID portfolio I spent the afternoon poking about the garden. I
- turned over the compost bin and added the spent compost of one tomato planter
- tidied up the strawberries (still trying to bloom and with more (raw, rotting) berries on than in July! what? ...maybe they should've been watered more in the summer...?)
- moved said planters to the front, where they look lonely and out of place. must buy more winter bedding and plant the other two boxes. the planters spent the interim in my tiny plastic greenhouse with the intention of giving the pansies a chance to get properly establish before having to face the full fury of the elements. seems to have worked.
- set lots of slug bars, with Science:

Slug Science!

The beer on the left is the cheapest by volume I could find at Lidl, the right-hand one was the cheapest you could buy by individual can; Excelsior Lager you could only get in packs of four. After the surprising results of the last experiment, I'm not going put that much faith on the "Reinheitsgebot" claims on the Pils until I see what's what.

The experiment set-up at at the end of November:

Bottom right is tap water for control.

After a few nights, the Carlsberg had maybe five slugs, ditto the Guinness (which I'd expected to win hands down), and the Heineken had dozens. Far too many to count, anyway (...which makes this not real science, but I do amuse myself so.).


Speaking of composting, there's something very badly awry with the bigger of the two kitty poop vermicomposts: the poop level has stopped going down and there are dead worms, which has never happened before. My guess is that I've just overloaded them when the room is colder and they work more slowly. An attempt at a solution would be to remove some of the poops as well as any dead worms, but, well, ew. Luckily I have a box of vinyl gloves, and the rubbish goes out this evening...