End-of-winter work

Every day that passes now tells me that spring is coming. The days are longer, the first winter jasmine is out. And so we gleefully launch into tasks that boldly believe the freeze is over. Here are six end-of-winter happenings in my garden. For more, head on over to The Propagator's blog and his Six-on-Saturday posts!

1. Planting:
Remember the desolate fenced area I had shown earlier? I have now decided that it will be a gold and white seating area.There is already forsythia and azalea, but this year I will add hypericum and berberis, narcissus and lycoris. In the meantime for a quick (non gold and white) fix I have transplanted my phlox. The twigs are to protect from chickens, the pine needles are to protect from frost and sun.

 2. Acorn collection: CHIRAG, that works on all things environmental in the area, has started collecting acorns for the spring sowing. The forests have been decimated by over-exploitation and increased occurrence of forest fires. Regular sowing will help conserve these for the future. Our house has become the centre for seed collection in the neighbourhood. Children have their winter holidays now and are encouraged to collect acorns and bring them over. They get Rs.12/kg, which is a good sum for a bit of pocket money.

3. Bordeaux time: Buds are sprouting on the fruit trees and roses. Which means it is that time of year when I use the household utensils to process chemicals. We make a bordeaux mixture every year to spray the peaches and roses with. One day of spraying, and Peach Curl and Black Spot are held at bay!

 4. Feeding the bees: And last week the Himalayan Cherries were through with flowering. Mian and I opened up our hive to give the bees some jaggery. Not much development since autumn, but atleast they are alive..need to learn more about bee keeping.

5. Winter is still here though. And so I am continuing to sprout grain for the chickens.

6. And in case you think Mian and I are the only ones working here, here's a photo of the Great Tunnel

Flowers in winter

The 'six-on-saturday' meme is hosted by The Propagator. In his words, it's "Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything – a flower, a pest, a success, a project, a plan, an abject failure – anything at all!" So if you want to find out what's happening in other gardens, do go on over to his blog!

And when you do, you will find that other gardens have a lot of flowery stuff going on even at the end of winter. I determined last week to go out and see if I do not have atleast six flowers going on in my garden too. Guess what? I do!

Here they are

1. Marigolds: A little tired at this time of the year, but still happy

 
2.Ditto the hydrangea. 

3. Nothing tired about this Saptarangi rose, though it is the last one of the season.

4. Nasturtiums still going strong too

5. The rosemary is looking a little washed out in the photo. A pity, because it is quite pretty really

6. My Sweet Williams have been flowering all winter. True, just one plant that managed to find itself shelter under the jasmine, but a lovely thing nevertheless.

Six on Saturday- the hopes and dreams edition

Okay. It's that time of the year again- Reckoning time. You know what I mean..the time when you turn the pages of your garden journal back to a page headed '2017!', look at a sketch on which is marked 'winter garden here', and then raise your eyes to the wasteland that still remains. Oh, it's just me doing that? Never mind then.

Because it is also the time of second chances. The time when you turn to a crisp and blank page, head it '2018!' and sketch another map. I thought it'd be fun to share some of my big plans with you..and actually, was hoping for suggestions too.

But let's start with the happy stuff.

1. Nasturti-yums: Believe it or not, I actually planted nasturtiums unsuccessfully for a couple of years, only to lose them to the hens. This time, they are in pots. And they are stunning!

2. Misplaced yucca: Last year, a good friend of Mian's decided to stay with us for a while. I wanted to give him something nice by the entrance to the guest room. Something welcoming that he could look at while sitting on the steps. And so of course, I moved two spiny yuccas from near the path to the doorway. Structural, with lovely shades of cerulean and jade, they were amazing in that spot. So amazing in fact, that I never moved them back. But they have been growing all this time, and will grow even more.

And so this winter I will move them. The question is, where? I have three spots where they will be perfect. And a coin has only two sides..

3. The Iris bed: It looks bare now, and the chickens do damage it a lot, but I actually am quite happy with this. It has a comfy bench, and a nice little succession of iris-mirabilis-marigolds going on.

And speaking of goings-on, please do look at the Madhu-Kochanie Digging Project. I hate to deter them, they are having so much fun!

4. The walk down: It's looking better with the proper path. And I actually have a lot planted there..hydrangeas, magnolia, chaenomeles, chrysanthemums, salvia, weigela, digitalis. They just need to pull their socks up now.I am aiming for a pinky purply shrub walk.

5. The fenced garden: Across the path from the iris bed. Admittedly, it is at its worst now.

It does have some colour in it later in the year. The problem is that barring one each of azalea, rose and forsythia this area is rather annuals-dependent. But it has a view of the mountains, which makes me want a table and chairs there. More perennials needed.

6. The Winter Garden: Blah. Bah. Humbug. I think I will indulge myself in a separate post detailing my woes. But till then, look at the awfulness:

The 'six-on-saturday' meme is hosted by The Propagator. In his words, it's "Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything – a flower, a pest, a success, a project, a plan, an abject failure – anything at all!" So if you want to find out what's happening in other gardens, do go on over to his blog!