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OK, dear friends: for reasons too tedious to go into, my poor garden has been sadly neglected since about September. I did plant some raspberry canes and did a bit of weeding at some point, but since then I have been rushed off my feet and have done sweet fa.
The garden has - like yours no doubt - been buried under snow and hard as concrete for what seems like ages. Now that everything has thawed, I've gone out to survey the damage, sadly aware of the garlic and onion sets sitting in my freezing conservatory, which are not yet in the ground.
The sad truth is that grass and buttercups seem to like frost and snow. There is scarcely a bare inch of earth. I can see parsley and strawberries which are obviously fine, plus a row of wilted chard and some beetroot. My blackcurrant bushes are massively overgrown, the Jerusalem artichokes need cutting down. There are a few brave onions and what looks like a lone savoy cabbage.
I just don't know where to start. I feel I should clear the ground of grass and buttercups, but don't want to leave bare earth. Obviously, there's nothing much I can plant now unless I fill the whole plot up with onions and garlic, which seems a bit of an overkill. My daughter is now veggie, so I want the garden in really full production this year. Can I cut the chard back - will it grow again (I seem to remember reading it would but could be talking rubbish)? Is it too late to prune the blackcurrants or would I be better off just leaving them? Can I move strawberries so they're all in one place?
I feel I do possibly know the answers to these questions but just don't know what's for the best. Or should I just shut the back door and wait until February?
Perhaps you lovely all-the-year-rounders would be kind enough to give me the benefit of your advice? Thank you very much.
The garden has - like yours no doubt - been buried under snow and hard as concrete for what seems like ages. Now that everything has thawed, I've gone out to survey the damage, sadly aware of the garlic and onion sets sitting in my freezing conservatory, which are not yet in the ground.
The sad truth is that grass and buttercups seem to like frost and snow. There is scarcely a bare inch of earth. I can see parsley and strawberries which are obviously fine, plus a row of wilted chard and some beetroot. My blackcurrant bushes are massively overgrown, the Jerusalem artichokes need cutting down. There are a few brave onions and what looks like a lone savoy cabbage.
I just don't know where to start. I feel I should clear the ground of grass and buttercups, but don't want to leave bare earth. Obviously, there's nothing much I can plant now unless I fill the whole plot up with onions and garlic, which seems a bit of an overkill. My daughter is now veggie, so I want the garden in really full production this year. Can I cut the chard back - will it grow again (I seem to remember reading it would but could be talking rubbish)? Is it too late to prune the blackcurrants or would I be better off just leaving them? Can I move strawberries so they're all in one place?
I feel I do possibly know the answers to these questions but just don't know what's for the best. Or should I just shut the back door and wait until February?
Perhaps you lovely all-the-year-rounders would be kind enough to give me the benefit of your advice? Thank you very much.
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