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Sunday 28 April 2013

Fair Weather Gardener


I'll be the first to admit that I'm a bit of a fair weather gardener. I'm more than happy to order seeds, plan the garden and update the blog when the rain is coming down outside but I need to at least see the sun to get me motivated enough to pull on the wellies and get stuck in. Fortunately, despite the intermittent hail storms, this weekend the sun came out and I was more than happy to get out and do a bit of digging.

The vegetable plot is organised into deep beds which, as we never walk on them, never need digging. A bit of hoeing and the occasional addition of some compost but that's about it. The flower beds on the other hand are a different matter.

Slightly neglected over the winter, the weeds had definitely taken over the flower border. However, we eventually managed to uncover a couple of last year's plants that had survived the winter and cleared enough room to plant out some of the new batch, maturing nicely in the greenhouse.



We are planning to put a new path in, running along the edge of the flower bed, so, in preparation, wanted to include some herbs. I therefore planted out the purple sage that we bought at our last garden centre visit and transplanted a lavender that has followed us on our last house move.
 
 
 
The final job was to tidy up some of the various pots we have about the garden, including the winter pansies which have been giving a splendid display all through the winter.


Now to sit back and wish for more fair weather...

Tuesday 23 April 2013

Warming Up

It seems like the weather has at last decided to start warming up. It is therefore time to start moving the plants that have been taking over the conservatory out into the greenhouse and, ultimately, out into the garden.




We could be accused of over-doing it with the plug plants this year but better to have too many than not enough. We may have to invest in a few hanging baskets though...

The sweet peas are doing well and have been in the greenhouse for a while now so with the chances of frost diminishing we have got some of them planted along the fence. With a bit of time to get established, they should be fine even if the temperature does drop again.

In other news, we have done a bit of investing in our local bird population. It's always good to attract these little pest controllers into the garden. A new feeding station nearer the house is already attracting a nice variety which we can now sit and look at from the conservatory.



We also put up four separate bird boxes at various locations throughout the garden. These are already attracting interest from the local bluetit population. I only wish they could be encouraged to visit my chillies and eat the pesky greenflies that have made them their home.