Seeds

That summer I collected seeds from our garden. I had bought a small greenhouse which consisted of shelves about two foot across with a plastic cover. It was cheap and would fit in our small garden. My intention was to grow lots of plants which I would put on the common, use in our garden and give to friends. I somewhat overestimated myself, but I got something.

From the garden I collected sweet pea seeds, foxglove, aquilegia, echinacea, iris, delphinium and poppy. I also bought some vipers bugloss seeds. VB is not easy to find in garden centres and bees go crazy for it.

I put my seeds in seed trays or individual plugs in my makeshift greenhouse. The echinacea and iris seeds disappeared without trace. However, the delphiniums, foxgloves, poppies and vipers bugloss all germinated. The seeds I didn't plant I scattered on the common, along with a few packets of mixed wildflower seeds.

By the end of the year, I had small plants to dig into the common. I put a clump of foxgloves at the back of the unbrambled bit, and two clumps of vipers bugloss near the middle and front.

Then the snows came.