Clairesallotment's Blog

Can anyone answer this question for me? Last Tuesday was 16.5 degrees, and I was wishing that I had my shorts on when I was down the allotment, and this morning we woke up to a sprinkling of snow and the temperature is 1 degree, and thermals are needed, and we keep getting snow flurries. Was last week our summer in just one day and now it’s back to winter again?

Check out the discounts on at Victoriana Nursery Gardens this month.
March Madness – Discounts Up To 40%
Well, the less said about the weather in February the better! But at least we would have appeared to have nearly turned the corner – it may be ‘coming back’ for few days next week but it doesn’t look like it is going to last! Which means that March looks to be a ‘flat out’ gardening month – catching up on jobs left over from February as well as getting on with your important March jobs.
To make your gardening pound go that little bit further we have some great offers…
20% off all Vegetable Seeds & Flower Seeds

15% off all Fruit – Tree Fruit, Soft Fruit, Grape Vines, Nuts – the lot!

A massive 40% off the following Hedging Plants – Cherry Plum Hedging, Willow Hedging, Coral Pearl Hedging & Shrub Rose Hedging.

To claim these fantastic discounts simply use the offer code MARCH13 between now and the 17th March.

Nursery News

Despite the weather February threw at us, we have made huge amounts of progress here on the nursery – and similalry the first few days of March have been busy too. The new mini-orchard, which was just strings and sticks at the begining of February, is now planted up and looks great. We’ve also managed to get the area in front of the ‘greenhouse shop’ cleared in readiness for our new grape arbour. If you haven’t already, do have a look at the video on our Home page, and you’ll see exactly what we’ve been up to – and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @Victoriana_NG for daily updates on what we’re up to at Victoriana!

On the more than one or two wet days that we’ve had we’ve spent quite a bit of time writing a little more about our family history in horticulture and also transferred some old cine films to video. So do make sure you spend a few minutes in the updated How It All Began section of our site – you’ll even discover we’ve started blogging a family gardening diary from the 1950’s!

So that’s it for March – this tiny blip in the weather will be gone in a few days – so it really is time to crack on!

Kindest Regards

All At Victoriana

When we got up this morning just after 7am there was frost on the ground, and it was really cold outside. However, by the time I left at just before 10am to go to the allotment the sun had shone so hard all the frost had gone and it was rather warm. After digging for a little while I realised I was too warm, and took off my body warmer and my cardigan. I was a little shocked at this as it’s only March, but wasn’t going to complain. I left the allotment just after 1.30pm and the temperature said 16.5 degrees. Surely this couldn’t have been correct, but I guess it was. In the beautiful sun I managed to turn over another couple of beds, one being the Jerusalem Artichokes. I kept a few for dinner, but the other ones I put back in the soil to grow this year. There is nothing better than leaning against a compost heap, eating a sausage sandwich with alioli (garlic mayo), a brownie and drinking half a bottle of water. Heaven!

Mark sent me this, but I have to share it with you…

Garden Glory Through a Lens

Well this morning I just got into a rhythm of digging another bed when I got a call from my sons school. Never a good sign. He’s got a cough (not a bad one) and a snotty nose. But he’s been complaining of his ears hurting. I’ve ruled out an ear infection, but they were hurting so much they called me. I packed up at the allotment and still wearing my wellies went and got him. After a visit to the chemist it seems that he has all that gunky stuff stuck in his ear tubes. Doesn’t sound nice, but after some Sudafed medicine, he was back to school and I was back down the allotment. I’ve managed to dig over another bed, which was a bit of a tricky one. Hopefully the meds will work for George and he’ll be back to his normal self in no time.

After bell ringing this morning I picked my daughter up from a sleepover, dropped her off home and then spent a couple of hours at the allotment. No need for a scarf today, and as the morning went on I had to remove 1 of my jumpers. So it must be getting warmer. Not very exciting I’m afraid, I just dug another couple of beds. I’ve got about 2 weeks before I’ll start to get the potatoes in and other March seeds, so it prepping time at the moment.