celebrating Imbolc - it’s time to get planting

Spring - here in Australia we declare the 1st of September to be the first day of Spring. It’s a weird date, as it’s not related to the seasonal cycle in any way. It doesn’t fall on the solstice or the equinox, for example. And for me, it has always felt ‘late’. By that I mean Spring has always felt like it is already well and truly on it’s the way by the first week of September. From about mid July you really start noticing the lengthening days, and there is the hopeful beginnings of some bone-warming strength in the sun - even if it is not yet in the earth. And some late July/August days can be positively hot. My husband’s birthday is late July and I remember a birthday picnic years and years ago when we, as newly dating teenagers, were sunburned.

If like me you’ve been busy all winter thumbing through seed catalogues and trawling websites, purchasing seeds and bulbs, ordering bare rooted roses and trees, and buying more tiny seedlings than you can fit into your garden - and these are all now tumbling through your mailbox at an exponential rate - fear not! You need not wait until calendar Spring to get on with things.

The ancient Celts held the day halfway between the winter solstice and spring equinox as the first day of ‘spring. Known as Imbolc, for us here in Australia this day falls on about the 6th August. This means the start of spring is actually almost a month earlier than we might otherwise have customarily accepted, but certainly fits with the perceived seasonal shift from winter into ‘non-winter’.

This does not necessarily mean that you can run out and start planting baby seedlings and seeds directly into your garden (although you can plant some - more about this later). But it is certainly time to start seed raising in either your greenhouse, cold frame or a sunny window sill.

I am in Maitland in the Hunter Valley. We are still at risk of frost, but the days themselves are becoming warmer (with the odd freezing day thrown in for good measure). Technically we are in a temperate zone, but every garden has its own micro-climate, so be aware of and work with yours.

Seeds I am raising in the greenhouse and on every spare windowsill now include:

Flowers:

Billy buttons
Phlox
Sweet Annie
Ranunculus seed
Sweet peas ( making what will be a very late third crop for me, a bit of an experiment really)
Rudbeckia
Coreopsis
Russell Lupins (a gamble, they never really work in this climate but I love them)
Achillea
I’m also having a bit of an experiment with raising early cosmos, something I usually do directly into the ground much later in the year, but I’m having a go at seed raising so I might (hope hope) get an early crop.

Herbs and veg:

White Sage
Sage
Tomatoes
Chillies
Lettuce - three different varieties including Australian Yellow Leaf
Asparagus
Rhubarb
An all-year-round red spring onion I’ve never tried before
Onion
Basil (to grow on in the greenhouse)

Straight into the ground:
More Bells of Ireland
Cornflowers
Nigella
Another round of poppies (just because)
Carrots
Radish
Rocket
Coriander
Potatoes

Although our indoor fire will stay lit for a few more months to come (at least at night) to get some seeds up and going feels like a positive act of faith that the growing season is fast approaching. And whilst I plant, I dream of the billowy armfuls of blooms that are just around the corner.

Summer abundance is just around the corner...get planting!