Just in time a mild spell…
It needed another 5 metres of bubblewrap to finish the job. As this wrap is UV stabilised and as used by Monty Don I hope to get more than 2.5 years of service from it. I keep the wrap up all year, which does shorten its life but it’s so useful in diffusing strong sunlight as well as keeping Jack Frost at bay.
The other benefit of the re-wrap is that the greenhouse had a thorough clean, sweep and tidy so at least I’ll start 2021 in an organised fashion but definately guarantee it won’t last!
Here are the over-wintering inhabitants. The hydrangea cuttings are looking rather yellow, I’ll re-pot them and give them a FFB feed to see if that perks them up.
Can you see the Castor Oil (Riccinus) plant bottom left by the watering can? It’s going into it’s second winter – I wanted to see if I could keep it going through the winter as it isn’t cold hardy in most parts of the UK.
The plastic box is my propagation unit, copied from The Propagator. It will hold 8 6cm square pots and maintains a good degree of humidity to keep the cuttings happy.
What garden or plot refurbishments are you carrying out this winter?
Allotment Life 
It’s all looking very neat and tidy, all set for spring. I managed to tidy my greenhouse and get it ready, I usually leave it till the last moment!
I’m doing nothing major on the plot this winter, my last job being to completely empty out the compost bin a month or so back. xx
Our cool house (not heated, so I could not really call it a green or hot house) is sustaining us with greens into January with our mild temperatures, 40F’s to 50F’s day, and 30F’s at night. Our cold frames got us through December and are now resting until the days are longer. We can probably resume harvesting those early spring greens in about 6 weeks. Several the cold frame boxes are rotting, so they will be on the replacement schedule this summer. -Oscar
I had to do a quick conversion to celcius! It has been much colder here in London recently – we haven’t got much above 40f during the day, so the bubblewrap has really made a difference. I didn’t get myself in gear for an autumn sowing, so only have spinach and spring onions in the polytunnel, which stays between 40-70f. I sow lettuce and broad beans for the tunnel in the new few weeks. There are always jobs to do around the garden and allotment 😉
Gardening is a year-round vocation in our region (Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, USA). Sorry about forgetting about F/C conversions. Should the pandemic calm by June, we have a narrow boat trips planned your way. We shall be the one’s making the conversions. We fondly remember watching a TV weather report in Scotland some years ago, in which the reported said “The temperature will be dropping like a stone”. We knew exactly what would happen that afternoon, regardless of the absolute reading. The metaphor was quite sufficient (something we Americans do not understand). Then again, isn’t “a stone” a weight measurement? Happy planning for planting. – Oscar