It’s still a week before the ‘Saints Glaces’, or as I affectionately know them as – the Icy Saints. ‘Affectionately’ in the same sense that I have affection for voles. But tonight and tomorrow night are forecast to be -1/0 degrees. Here it is normally a degree or two below the forecast.
The garden, as a result, has been strewn with old hay, net curtains, debris netting, and cardboard. I’ve had to accept that I can’t cover it all, so I’ve prioritised: potatoes, figs, strawberries, dahlias, fuchsias and Acers. Some stuff in pots, and all my tender seedlings have been moved into either the basement or the barn…
I was fairly upbeat as I came in after a full day out there today. I hope I’m not going to be posting tales of woe after this weekend. Here are some photos of thing looking ok before the frost!
Potatoes all hay-ed up for the frost.
The bank wall; base soil levelled and awaiting manure and seeds…
This Iris (no idea of its name unfortunately), came originally from a clump on my second allotment. I mean that I inherited it when I took over the plot – I never planted it there. I dug some bits up, stuck them in and now it’s all over the place. This is the first flower of this year. Not quite unfolded.
Viburnum opulus ‘Snowball’. I’ve a fair few Viburnums now. I’m a sucker for their perfume (although this one doesn’t have any), and despite the fact that their flowers are quite quickly over – and the leaves afterwards aren’t that exciting – I always look forward to them. For years now I’ve been trying to replace my favourite. I bought it in the 80’s from Woolworth’s in the Walworth Rd. when I lived at the Elephant. In those days I didn’t pay too much attention to names/cultivars.
It grew happily in a tub and was eventually planted out when we moved to Walthamstow in ‘92, where it continued to delight. Unfortunately it got cut down – not by me! – and I’ve been searching for it ever since. I might (finally) have found it this year at Porte de Carhaix nursery. The plant I chose had just a single flowering head, but the perfume and the form look right… Obviously I’ll update next year!