… and received 6 apple trees. The initiative comes from my youngest kid who is 9. My granddad had a fruit farm so we’re growing memories.
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Probably late March, the traditional day is Good Friday
I cannot get to the garden centre that often and the seed potatoes in the likes of Poundland are reputed not to be of the highest quality
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And we’re off for 2026! First in the propagator are these two chillis;
It was Sugar Rush Peach Stripey that I ordered, but Red Dragon seeds kindly added the Golden Nugget for free.
Rubbed some food-grade silicon grease into the rubber tray before planting the seeds and placed in the propagator, setting the thermostat probe to 29c. This precise temp 24/7 was the big difference last year.
I nearly planted the tomato seeds at the same time for convenience and saving electricity, but I really think it’s just a bit too early.
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Planted Pepper and Aubergine seeds in the propagator yesterday. The 2026 gardening year begins. Almost (!) looking forward to cutting the grass again in a month or so with my new petrol mower.
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seeds, from last year and they were grown from the previous years chillies
Hamamelis make great winter flowers. I’ve had Hamamelis x intermedia Harry for a number of years and it’s my favourite. The flowers are extra large and the fragrance is astonishing. I can smell the orange perfume from it a good 20ft away.
Harry
I have a red variety called Hamamelis x intermedia Diane. There’s not much fragrance and the flowers are smaller, but it looks nice.
Diane
Diane
I saw another red variety called Hamamelis x intermedia Rubin last year, before it came into flower. It’s supposed to be a slightly richer, pure red and the flowers apparently last longer. However, even right next to each other, I can’t see any difference. Maybe it’ll last a little longer. This has very little fragrance too.
Rubin
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I know I’ve posted about camellia yuletide before (probably 2-3 yearsago), but it really is a good winter-flowering plant.
This photo was taken in October just gone;
And here it is now still flowering;
Constant flowers throughout the winter.
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Hazelnut is native in the Netherlands
Therefore it does very well without any attention. I’m considering to plant more of them in the wetter part of the garden.
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My Amaryllis , the plant just toppled , and in the end it ended up as a cut flower .
Otherwise I could see the plant ending up as a nasty accident on the carpet
Still got another stem to go , then I will repot it
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The first plants turned up today. Agastache -Giant Hysop (Kudos Yellow)
These are to follow also Agastache
All part of this year’s pollinator garden.
I don’t want to move - but a flat with a patio might be a solution
(Stock photos)
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Last April, I played around with tiny offsets of sempervivum Gold Nugget and Mint Marvel.
I seemed to have cracked the growing medium (at last), as not one has died or rotted all year, especially during the very wet winter we’ve had. The colours will become more intense orange & red during the late winter/early spring and they’ve still got a lot of growing to do, but I’m pretty pleased with the result.
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Wow! It will take me many years before I reach that level.
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It’s the Gold Nugget that I’m particularly pleased with. It came out a few years ago as a new vibrant red/orange semp and of course everyone wanted it. However, shortly after that, people reported their failures and found it very difficult to keep.
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How did your galanthus Golden Fleece do this year?
Ian
It looks like the plants included on green roofs. Now that got me thinking again …
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Golden Fleece is doing well. It multiplies very easy. I have Treasure Island and Pieces of Eight in the same pot and they’re a lot slower to multiply.
I only took one photo this year. Here’s Treasure Island in the front, Pieces of Eight in the middle/left and Golden Fleece at the back.
Here’s a close-up of the size of Treasure Island compared to Pieces of Eight. It’s huge, and Pieces of Eight is a big snowdrop as it is. They’re on the same plane.
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