Our gardening year has just started today. We called into the local discount cash and carry today for some household cleaners and happened to see their gardening section just being set up. I’m sorry but I couldn’t resist having a look and had to buy some first early seed potatoes, and some shallot and onion sets. Mrs P. bought some lily bulbs and a new planter… aren’t we weak…
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Sainsburys are starting to stock these items as well Barry in the front part of my local store. I might be buying some seed pots too as well soon 
Yes Val, best buy them quickly before they all get snapped up…
I’ve put mine on trays and will leave them in the potting shed to chit for three or four weeks and then plant them late February. Now the ground has unfrozen I’ll get the onion and shallot sets planted and net them over for a few weeks to stop the birds from pulling them out…
Luckily I turned the beds over and sprinkled some general purpose fertilizer over them last back end, so we should be all ready to go when the weather warms up a little more…
Hi Barry, for many years now I’ve started off my onion sets in a seed tray and planted them in the garden when they’ve got good roots. It seems to work well as they always get moving quickly and don’t get pulled out of the ground by the birds.
Good idea is that Alan, I’ll give it a try I think…
No Barry, not weakness…I’ve bought lily bulbs and pots too, plus a pair of small snips that are just the right size for my small hands…it’s very exciting, can’t wait to start planting flower seeds too.
I have also bought two sacking type grow beds for either the greenhouse or pergola, (according to weather) for salad crop.
It’s nice to look ahead during the dark winter days to a time when we will be out in the gardens again 
I bought my runner beans on line last week and have ordered a grafted tomato plant ‘Elegance’ which has a lovely flavour , it will arrive in May
Lets hope we get some good gardening weather this year…
I’m not doing much this year as the house will be going on the market in April/May but in reality I expect to be in Watford all summer so will do some pots, tomatoes and hanging baskets. I do my pots in bags so no soil turning for me and it also means when they are ready I just tip them out and you don’t get them damaged with the fork. I think the bags are a great idea and I would get more rather than grow directly in the ground.
Barry, if you are not already a member can I recommend a forum I have belonged to for more years than I care to remember called Gardeners Corner. It covers every inch of gardening you can imagine and it certainly makes you feel as though you are not alone trying to get the better of this weather when it comes to gardening.
Moyra, my apologies for missing your last post but better late than never they say…
I don’t actually belong to a gardening forum, I tend just to find a forum when I need to find a solution to a problem…
so maybe it’s time I looked in on that one, thanks…
I succumbed to temptation this afternoon and set seed for my tomatoes and sweet peppers, which I left on the windowsill in the spare room, and I will prick them out and move them into the conservatory in a couple of weeks where I will grow them on until the greenhouse is warm enough in April or early May.
Happy days…
You are always one step ahead of me Barry I will be sowing my tomato seeds in a couple of weeks when I return from Norfolk
Makes you feel Spring is on the way when you start sowing seeds, chitting potatoes etc
I am always pleased when February is out of the way as you feel the worst of the Winter is over then
Thank you for recommending Gardeners Corner Moyra. I have been a member of Gardenersclick, which Chris Beardshaw organised. I was a member for a couple of years, but it has recently closed down. I am in the process of signing up to Gardeners Corner, so thank you again.
We have not really got started in the garden yet this year and it’s all looking a bit tatty. I noticed yesterday that B & Q have sweet peas in pots for sale already and even the 10 week stock, but I think it’s too early just yet. I’ve not even pruned the roses, or cleared up the last of the dead leaves and debris winter has left behind. Must get going. 
I confess I am a ‘fair weather’ gardener.
I don’t like the cold, so I am happy working in the greenhouse but at the moment there isn’t much to do in there…apart from tidying and making room for all the trays and pots.
We did do an autumn tidy and spread rotted manure around - so ours is just a bit tatty too.
I’ll have a look at Gardeners Corner, I have never belonged to any forum before this but quite like the idea of one for gardeners.
Question :- how do you all clean your pots? Do you use something like Jeyes Fluid or just soapy water?
My tomatoes and sweet peppers have now germinated so I’ve put them into the conservatory, where it is cooler, frost free and lighter, so they can grow on for a few weeks. My new spuds haven’t chitted that well, but I’m sure they will be OK so I will plant them today regardless, at around 6" deep and 12" apart and await events. I’m also turning out one of the compost heaps and mulching around the fruit trees and bushes with it…
Sounds like you are all up to date Barry I haven’t set foot in the garden yet only to look at the garlic . It is still too cold for me…
Sometimes I’m over eager Meg, but I can always replant or buy in some seedlings later if it all goes bosom up…
We have had a lovely couple of days (including today) so I have been out and raked up more leaves and debris, raked thatch out of the lawns and also pruned the roses. Still no sign of the delphiniums yet, but ther are lots of things sprutting and the soil is beginning to dry out a bit. Has anyone mowed their grass yet?
Just been out for a look and the Pink Hellebore I planted in a dark corner last autumn is in flower
cant do that here right now were deep in snow ice
So is mine Meg! I put three in a couple of years ago, all different colours, in a group and they are now all the same colour 
I wrapped up warm and toddled to the greenhouse - I reckon I’ve got 30 geraniums in flower. Some are cuttings but most are last years that I simply dug up and potted.
I’m pleased and it will give my containers instant colour.
My only moan is that I’ve got white fly in the greenhouse - despite my heavy spraying of garlic and hanging those yellow sticky thingys up 
The fuschia cuttings are smothered … I’ve sprayed with a bug spray this time!
Hope the snow clears soon Pixie 