The days are getting longer. Although we are still in the clutch of a cold winter here on the croft, with snow still on the hills and an icy wind, my thoughts have increasingly moved to garden planning as our daylight hours have lengthened.
I’ve started some seeds off in the little bedroom in the caravan. We have no greenhouse, cold frames or polytunnel yet, so needs must.
It’s a bit of a make-do affair with a propagator heat pad, some cardboard boxes, seed trays, old yoghurt pots that I’ve been saving since we moved here, and one of those whizzy octopus UV grow lights to help start things off.
Everything is bathed in an eerie blue light from its flexible metal arms. It’s like something from the X Files… I go in a few times each day to check on things and can’t resist adjusting it.
Lord only knows what the neighbours must think when they see the strange, neon blue light glowing through the thin curtains at dusk…
I’m starting small. More will follow in March and April, which is a much more sensible time to start new plants here.
I’ve started garlic, onions (although the recommended local wisdom is to grow from sets rather than seed, which I only discovered after I’d bought them), leeks, parsley, beets and rocket. Seed potatoes are on their way in the next week ready for chitting.
I know it’s early, but it’s such a short season that it makes sense (to me at least) to have plants ready to be planted out in May, and they’ll need a full month of hardening off, I suspect.
The garlic has leaped into action almost immediately. I’m growing a rose and a white skinned garlic, both hardy varieties, and both a bit of an experiment, although local growers report that they generally grow well here.
I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for old glass windows or sheets of polycarbonate on the local ads to make cold frames, but they’re scarcer than hens teeth at this time of the year, so we may need to buy materials new and create our own.
And so it begins.
Ravencroft Skye 
Clearly there is no stopping you. If you are running out of space, your garlic could be put in large pots and placed outside.
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Good idea – I hadn’t thought of that.
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My yoghurt pots shared the same fate! Perfect for starting seedlings. One day I’ll get there again!
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Rose skinned garlic?! That sounds so wonderful. Well done on getting in early, you will have a garden ready to go in the ground as soon as Spring shows herself.
The neighbours probably think you are starting seedlings in your bedroom (country folk are a practical lot), but you could add a layer of mystery by putting a cut out alien in the window and moving it to a new position every day.
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Now you’re talking 😊😊😊
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I used to buy pink Lautrec garlic when I lived in rural SW France, so although this is a different, and hopefully more hardy variety, it’s a bit of nostalgia
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I haven’t heard of it before. I love learning about new food plants, especially the nostalgic ones.
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I wonder if your neighbours saw the film Saving Grace. Lol.
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Lol. Growlights and cannabis! If the herbs and onions all fail there is always that, I guess 😂
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Sorry about the morale dip Lesley. Low sun, short days and cold can knock the endorphins a little sideways. The upside is the days rapidly start to get longer from now. I always mark the extreme points of sunrise and sunset on the horizon for the summer and winter solstice. Don’t fret about it as winter draws on but enjoy every day of spring and summer as the daylight increases towards its maximum. You may even notice that you do your planting according to the sunrise position rather than the spring date. Like the crofters would have done on your land for the countless eons preceding your arrival.
Love Peter x
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Thank you Peter. Don’t worry, I know that with the coming back of the light (and progress on the build) that we will soon get our mojo back 😘
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