I’ve yet to get to building my cold frame, and fear it might be a bit late though I’ll probably still give it a whirl. Our temperatures here have been shockingly warm so far so if I hurry I may just be able to cash in with a crop of winter greens. We’ll see.

What I have been doing in the garden lately is planting out all of my bulbs. I ordered a varied mix of naturalizing less than super exciting daffodils, tulips and some very lovely muscari that I got a super big crush on last Spring, as well as some less economical but dramatic hybrid rich colour late blooming tulips for a bit of flash. I’m also experimenting with some ranunculus this year, mostly because I think they make a very pretty cut flower, so we’ll see how those do. And I absolutely couldn’t resist these little checkered dudes, though my cat seems hell bent on digging up their bulbs so we’ll see how many make it to Spring.

I was pretty good at keeping a garden journal throughout the summer, though admittedly it fell off a bit come August when I was running on instinct more than carefully laid plans. I did document my bulb planting this time, though I also decided to really push the technological envelope and snap some photos of where my bulbs were going before I actually stuck then in their snug little homes. I’m hoping this stops me from going on some kind of a mid winter blitz in what seems like a “bare spot” and unearthing my bulbs, something which I’m only too likely to do. So I’ve documented a folder of bulb placement photos on my harddrive and now just need to remember to check that before I go nuts with a shovel.

bulb mapping

I still have garlic to plant, which I’ve yet to really figure out where to put. I’m planning on redoing the configuration of our veggie boxes in the backyard next spring, so that’s not a good home for garlic given that it needs most of the summer to grow. I think I’ll have to tuck it in around my flower beds, which means I should definitely document where it is going so that I remember what those stray shutes are come next year.