February in the Garden
Spring is coming!
Officially the first day of Spring, or the Spring Equinox, occurs on March 20th, 2025. However, here in the Walled Garden, we can already see the signs of Spring awakening with our Crocuses, Daffodils and Narcissi beginning to open. The tulips shoots and peony buds are also starting to appear, and it does feel as if we have turned a corner. At their best just now are the Hellebores – we are gradually expanding the number of these in the Spring Border, and they are really lovely when seen close up – we hope to increase year on year and allowing them to seed themselves will hopefully result in some interesting colour combinations!
This is the month when the entire Garden team have a collective meltdown as everything seems to come at once. The final bare root plantings, the moving of the bulbs in the green, the sowing of (an awful lot) of seeds and the associated pricking off plus all the final pruning and cutting back of shrubs, planting of summer bulbs and tidying up and mulching the borders with our lovely compost and manure mixtures.
We are also rebuilding in the Glasshouses and will start to restock these as soon as possible to replace the plants lost in the big freeze.
The work in the Kitchen Garden also starts in earnest now with the sowing of Tomatoes, Chillies, Sweet Peppers, Onions and Celeriac under cover. We will also be adding lots of organic matter to keep the soil in tip top condition and will get the beds ready for their vegetable and fruit sowings soon.
We are often asked whether we have bees at Floors and the answer is yes, we do although they are in the woods away from the garden area. The Peaches blossom early as they are protected here and the sound of bees happily buzzing in the Glasshouses taking advantage of the early nectar is a great reminder of how important it is for us to look after our pollinators! Last year wasn’t great for our bees as it was so cold and wet at the critical stage in bee development so this year we are trying to provide as many flowers as possible for them to help them get through. Remember if you can plant even a few of these in your gardens you will be helping the bee population!…
Winter Aconite, Crocus, Lungwort, Hellebores, Mahonia, Primrose, Willow, Winter Heather and Honeysuckle. Bumblebees don’t seem to like daffodils for some reason, but others seem fine with them!
Finally – our Volunteers Programme commences again in a few weeks’ time.
Enjoy the longer days and nicer weather and we hope to welcome you to the Gardens again very soon!
