Growing flowers on Dartmoor, where the weather can sometimes have a mind of its own, can be a challenge.

January has proven quite a busy time in the garden at The Old Armoury – not everything is dormant and especially not the gardener.

Though we are in the generally warmer South West we are also on Dartmoor and so expect a variety of weather.

As the South West is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean it is quite rare for us to have snow, we have seen it just three times in eleven winters, but this year we have had much frost which is not usual. A few years ago we had nasturtiums – a plant originally from the frost free tropics – in flower outside Old Armoury Barn until the first icy night of winter in January killed them off.

In the beds of The Armourers Forge the snowdrops, crocuses and cyclamen have brought vivid dashes of white, purple, red, saffron and other colours to the edges of the beds.

Thankfully they are working hard as the viola have been disappointing this year. The planters outside Old Armoury Barn are bursting with shoots as the tete-a-tete surge upwards and in the pots the early tulips have broken the surface.

Sowing of flowers to be enjoyed much later in the year is well underway. Guests love having sweet peas in their rooms and in the summer months we pick them every day. We have sown successionally three varieties of sweet peas this year and have chosen varieties known for their fabulous scent including the always popular “Incense Mixed”. Antirrhinum are also sown as well as three varieties of dahlia, French marigolds, salvia and cosmos. It will be another month before the sunflowers and geraniums start their journeys. So growing flowers on Dartmoor can still pay off.

We aren’t just about growing flowers on Dartmoor, though, and so vegetable sowing has also started. “Ailsa Craig” onions and “Musselbugh” leeks are in and an early crop of tomatoes, “Yellow Delight”, is being tested. Broad beans – “Giant Exhibition Long Pod” – are already poking through the soil. Germinating indoors we are trying asparagus which we never have before and there is the possibility we may have a crop in the first year. Essentials like chilli peppers have made a strong start – less than a month after harvesting the last of the 2020 crop.

Whatever time of year guests stay there are always fresh flowers in the bedrooms and reception rooms. These are a mixture of those we grow ourselves and those from nearby commercial growers – we especially like the cutting garden at the Hill House Nursery in Landscove just two miles away. Wherever the flowers come from, we hope that you enjoy them.