Aloe Vera really doesn’t like the winter, turning into a slimey mess well before real frosts came. But now, almost all the plants I put in the garden last year are showing new life. I am really pleased, because I thought we’d have to keep growing them in pots and bring in for the winter. Perhaps if we mulch them with plenty of straw before temperatures drop this autumn, they will do better through the winter. We have a few perennials like this that would grow into quite large plants if they didn’t get cut right back in the winter.
The salsify that I left in the ground over the winter, to allow it to seed, is starting to flower. So we should have copious amounts of seed soon. We haven’t eaten much of this or scorzonera, the similar but black skinned plant. I’ll have a go at growing a decent quantity this year.
I took a bit of a risk last weekend by buying greenhouse raised pepper plants from market, and planting them out in the garden. Some friends and neighbours have been telling me about the frosts they have been having early morning this week. We, being south facing, seem to have avoided frost, although I did notice this morning that some vines on our lower border have been cut right back by recent cold. I definitely felt chilly the last few ornings when I got up.
The peppers though are doing well. It looks like one or two have been hurt by cold, but most of them have taken well, and look like this one.
I’ve got quite a few self-seeded sunflowers coming up, the biggest one is in the following photo. I have also started a tray full of giant sunflower seeds, which I have now also dotted around the garden. And I am thinking about planting out a larger area of sunflowers, as the chicks can eat them and they are pretty well drought tolerant. Perhaps when the rye is harvested we’ll plant soya, maize and sunflowers, with squash in between – a slight modification of the south american indigenous 3 seeds ideas, beans, corn and squash.
