Six on Saturday: Signs of Spring

 

We've made it to the end of February and there seems to be a different feel in the air.  A couple of degrees higher on the thermometer, a bit of sunshine and signs of new growth in the garden goes a long way to improve our mood.  

Here are my six:

For me, after snowdrops and crocuses the flowering blackcurrant heralds the Spring

Garlic making good growth, although the pesky squirrels have had a good root around

I am determined not to lose my lupins this year, hence the collars from plastic lemonade bottles

The Bellis in containers have sprung back to life after the frosts and snow.  They usually carry on flowering for months.

Black Grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus Nigrescens) is spreading well

This is a picture of the frogs and frogspawn in the pond.  I counted more than seven large frogs all being very active

The Propagator generously hosts Six on Saturday.  Click on the link to his blog to see what he and his followers are growing and doing in their gardens this week.  Perhaps you feel you could add your own six too.

Stay well and focus on that chink of light at the end of the tunnel

Gardeners' Question Time

It was really exciting to be part of the virtual audience in the Zoom room for BBC Radio 4’s GQT with chair Cathy Clugston and the panel.  Two programmes were recorded with the panel; Matthew Wilson who had guitars on his wall, Chris Beardshaw and Bunny Guiness whose cat was luxuriating under a radiator.  The programme (episode 43) airs on 12th February and, unless edited out, mine was the first question.

My question was:

In normal times, members of our gardening club are challenged to sow a pot of seeds each Spring to see who can grow the tallest Sunflower or the first Cosmos to bloom etc 

Can the panel suggest which seeds they would recommend for this year’s competition, preferably to flower later on this year.  All entries will be shown at our Zoom meetings and posted on our Blog.

Linda Casper

Friday Forum Gardeners Club, Paxton Hall, Leeds, West Yorkshire

Interesting answers were given by all three panel members.  Tune in to find out what they were!

If you fancy being in the audience, click on the link below.

Join BBC Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time for another virtual recording

…. and if you are interested in gardening, check out our group’s blog at

Gardeners Friday Forum at Paxton