Blog: gardening housework is hateful but necessary!
It’s the first gardening job of the year – cleaning the conservatory. Apart from doing the pond, it’s the worst task, just like housework. However, if you miss it out, you do so at your peril.
Do it in late January/early February before you start your seed sowing. My double-glazed conservatory, used like a working greenhouse, gets really warm on sunny days. The overwintering plants start to grow, and so do the pests.
There are so many cracks and crevices, you can bet there will be overwintering pests just ready to hatch out and feed on new, tender foliage. Obvious on my Pelargoniums are red spider mites – you can see by the tiny webs. No aphids are apparent yet but they’ll be there.
You need the best possible light at this time of year, so that means cleaning the acres of glass. There was a time I would do all the panes in one day. Sadly, that’s not the case any more. I do one or two per session, spreading out the work over a week or so. I don’t use fancy cleaners, opting for washing-up liquid in warm water with a dash of anti-bacterial spray. You get a good, streak-free finish that doesn’t steam up.
Cleaning the conservatory – every surface
Wipe over every tray, pot and surface to remove any pests or diseases. Of course, going over each plant is a more pleasant aspect of the job. I expect losses every year but the two extremely cold snaps this winter seem to have taken their toll. Rot is not a thing I’m used to but a couple of new succulents were mushy, with one completely gone. One of the original Colocasia tubers was rotten. Luckily, it had formed offsets, so I was able to dig out the affected tissue.
I hacked the bananas right back, as they look as if they were hovering between life and death. They still have the odd leaf but the older cut-back stems seem to want to rot. We can only wait and see.
Now all the succulents have been picked over, removed dead leaves (especially the Echeverias), inspected and moved around, there is room for the heat mat to come out and the first seeds to be sown. This is why cleaning the conservatory is so important.
This means the gardening year will truly have started – more on what I’m growing and trialling in the next blog. Sunflower Desire Red, bred by Burpee Europe and available from Plants of Distinction, is one of them!
