Winters ending really nearing?

It is of course still rather quiet, allotment wise, the snow has disappeared, more helped by a couple of days of rain then by rising temperatures. Those still hover around freezing point, maybe two or three degrees Celsius above during day time, but unfortunately the same amount below during nights. The predictable result is that the allotment is extremely muddy, since the upper 5 cm (two inches) or so has thawed, but below that it is frozen. The rain we had, and the molten snow have nowhere to go, and make the plot a nice mess. I would have liked to dig over a bed in preparation for some garlic, but it seems I will have to be patient. Predicted temperatures are a bit higher for the coming weekend, so there might be better possibilities soon.

The cuttings I took a 10 days ago seem to be doing fine, except one or two that show some mold, those will definitely be thrown out.

The ones outside are doing okay. I don't expect a lot here the next couple of months, I guess the key is to keep them humid enough, and not to worry.



These are inside, normally cover with some plastic wrap to create an environment as humid as possible. The are definitely sprouting, and I might be able to see some very fine roots forming (might be wishful thinking, though).


Here is the second pot I put inside, close to the heating ... there are some molds growing in here. I will eliminate those branches, and probably the rest of them as well.

Interestingly, a colleague mentioned to me they tend to graft their currents here normally onto something with a decent rot structure. That is the first time I hear about this, I have always had the illusion currants (red, white or black) can be grown as bushes. I will have to see, and if I obtain disappointing harvests the next couple of years I might need to try my hand at grafting....