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Is it too cold ?
Is it too cold & wet to plant up my new raised bed (courtyard garden) with perennials (mostly geraniums), & specimen iris which I have been overwintering in pots since moving from my old house? I am very close to the sea on The Wirral (Merseyside) but sheltered behind a big house. But its been really cold and wet these last two weeks.Forecast is for highs of 9/10c for weekend and no rain. Shall I wait til it gets warmer? Any advice appreciated. thank you.
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If the soil feels cold to you then it will feel cold to the plants.
Better to wait till it's warmed up and dried out a bit and then your plants won't get a check from going into cold wet soil. Be patient. It will pay dividends.
Thanks for that advice Obelixx. That was my gut feeling but my lovely, newly created bed looks very empty and I was tempted! I shall probably wait a few weeks. This winter isnt nearly as mild as more recent years, sadly. I shall do the next best thing and place them in their final planting spots
Don't do that either. If you have more heavy frosts they'll freeze their roots. Keep them altogether and tucked somewhere sheltered.
It won't look pretty but you could cover your new bed with cardboard or black plastic to stop weed seeds germinating and warm up the soil a bit earlier.
Thankyou. Saved me from an expensive mistake!!! Like the idea of covering it also.
Obelixx, do you by any chance post photos of your project in the Vendee (if indeed it is a project) on eg Instagram or Pinterest? It sounds interesting.
No. I post the off pic on here when something happens - like pond clearing and then it filling when we finally got rain after a 17 month drought or my wisterias. Having had such along drought there has been very little progress and now we've had rain almost every day since mid December so, again, no progress.
Pics will appear when thing start to move.