By Pete Langford, lead singer and founder of The Barron Knights, the 60s hit-making band
I can’t remember wanting to go out to do work in the garden and not been able to… not because of the cold but the biting wind.
But the snow has disappeared, and to my horror, rabbits have pushed down my protective wire fence around a raised bed and chewed away the green tops off the garlic. Luckily, I have a new lot to plant out in a few days. It’s not the best time but it works well because I did the same last February and all was good.
I will never work out how brilliant snow drops are. They survive whatever the weather. We have so many and although the flowers didn’t open for a few days, they still looked so healthy peeping through the snow.
I’ve been writing songs since I was 17 and luckily been quite successful, but not a patch on Sir Paul McCartney. A friend asked me to write a song for his daughter for her wedding day and I called it Snow Drops In the Summer. The last line of the verses is “You Changed My Life So much Like Snowdrops In The Summer” When the bride heard it, she shed a tear, hope it was cos she loved it!!
Greenhouse is busy. I have potatoes chitting and seeded up cornflowers. They are one of my favourite flowers because I love the way they keep producing flowers all season.
I also love California Poppies, (pictured far left), again they spread and keep producing. My wild area is lots of Red, White and Blue, and it’s very tricky to keep all the colours producing from June to end of September. It’s difficult to count how may different wild flowers I have but It’s the most wonderful sight when the sun is shining.
I’ve bought more pots for the patio’s,the more the merrier, I love filling them with flowers that keep small and as long as you dead head them they flower ‘til end of summer…
Happy Gardening