Where's the rain?

Yet another day of sunshine. It must be weeks since the last rain.

No posts for a while due to holidays. Almost everything in the greenhouse survived the holiday cooking, except the Ricinus.

Down the allotment, we could do with some rain, but I really don't want to start watering all and sundry - seed germination may be delayed, but it's better than wasting water.

On the allotment:

• first flowers on the strawberries (note to self: need more strawberry plants)
• signs of life on most raspberry canes (put in last autumn)
• kohl rabi: first sowing has germinated
• radishes showing where I have sown parsnips have germinated, even if the parsnips haven't
• salad leaves have germinated
• the lettuce sown in November is nearing harvest
• the Nigella seeds that I harvested from the garden have germinated and are growing away well
• Three (yes, THREE) spears of asparagus have come up - all about as fat as a shoelace - I think they need feeding.
• Some carrot seeds have germinated
• sweet peas have survived being planted out and will pick up soon; ditto golden mangetout peas.
• purple flowered mangetout have germinated (well, half a row has)
• normal broad beans are flowering; red flowered broad beans are growing away quite well
• I've had to earth up the Lady Christl potatoes twice!

To do:

• more digging out of roots
• plant pink fir apple potatoes
• lots more sowing of seed - may wait until it rains a bit though

Talking of waiting for rain, I can pretty much guarantee rain tomorrow as we are off to Ness Gardens again, for SomeBeans to try out the new lens on his camera. It always rains when we visit Ness.

In the garden at home:

• planted a deciduous azalea under the cherry trees at the back of the garden, along with hellebore seedlings I bought last year.
• potted up some Strelitzia (Bird of Paradise) plants bought for Somebean's birthday
• started ruthlessly weeding out Spanish bluebell plants - plenty more still to come up.

Down the allotment tomorrow afternoon, probably in the rain as we are visiting Ness as well. Plots seem to be filling up rapidly - there was a pice in the local free paper recently saying that only 1 site in Chester had free plots - ours. It'll be nice if the bramble inested plots are brought back under control - apparently they've only been out of cultivation for 2-3 years. I'll try to plant some of the 75 gladioli bulbs I bought for £2.99 down there tomorrow. I hate cutting flowers from the garden, as I feel it 'spoils' the garden. So, the cunning plan is to have a load of flowers for cutting at the allotment, for a house full of flowers from the summer through to the end of autumn.

Pretty photos of Ness are bound to follow tomorrow :-)

British Summer Time

What a beautiful day! Sunshine and mild weather drew me out into the garden. I've neglected the garden a bit for the past few weeks, so spent nearly four hours this afternoon doing some tidying up. Lots of weeding, and cutting down herbaceous perennials ready for the new year's growth.

It was wonderful to spend a little time looking more closely at some of the plants. The jonquils have a beautiful scent, once you get down to their level. Forget-me-nots are starting to flower, but I've had to be rather ruthless and pull up many of the seeded plants from around the front garden.

I also sowed more seeds - red cabbage, rudbeckia, snapdragons and some lettuce and carrots in containers.

It's wonderful to have the extra hour of light in the evening. Blackbirds, wrens and thrushes are singing. Glorious.

More photos from the weekend...

Some photos of my re-digging of beds down the allotment. A great many handfuls of marestail roots, couch grass roots and dandelion roots were pulled out...

I planted some 'Lady Christl' second early potatoes in part of the lower bed.

I'm digging up the grass paths I've left between beds - there's just too much chance of yet more couch grass spreading from the paths. I've ordered some weed suppression menbrane and may put that down in the paths, and cover it.

Next job is to weed the strawberry bed as it's looking a bit bedraggled.

Some photos from the weekend...

Running out of room already!

More sowing and potting on today.
Sown:

• Cosmos bipinnatus'Candy Stripe'
• Two types of bedding dahlia
• Marigolds (for the allotment)
• Rudbeckia 'Rustic Dwarf' (grow every year)
• Ricinus 'Impala'
• Leek 'Jaune de Poitou' (yellow leaved, early)
• Leek 'Bleu de Solaise' (blue leaved, late - withstands frosts well)

What's coming up:

• radishes
• dahlia seeds sown last week
• Swiss Chard
• second sowing of red peppers

What's been potted on:

• Cabbage 'Primo'
• Brussels Sprout 'Trafalgar'

Weather: around 12degC, overcast this afternoon.

No trips down the allotment this weekend, as we went to visit Dad. He gave us a beautiful orchid plant, which is currently sitting on the dining room table. I'm going to have to get to grips with orchids, as this is the second we have now. My sister in law has a wonderful way with them, including unusual and difficult to grow ones. A new challenge!

Coming out in the garden:

• large daffodils
• both camellias are now in flower
• the Kerria planted last year is just starting to flower.

Next weekend, I'll have to get the early potatoes planted doen on the plot. A busy time of year!

Lighter nights!

The increased light in the evening has meant that I've been able to do a bit of gardening after work today.

I've pricked out and potted on the Tigerella and Orange Banana tomatoes which I sowed 10 days ago. I'm too soft when it comes ot pricking out, as I feel guilty about not using every single plant and just throwing those I don't need onto the compost heap. Consequently, I've now got 15 Tigerella plants and 25 Orange Banana. That's not counting the 12 Tumblers which are growing in small pots, although I will be potting some of these up and giving them to Dad. Three more peppers have germinated, but I've kept these in the heated propagator, in the hope that some more will germinate, given time.

With some room made in the propagator, I've sown some 'Cayenne' chillis which I got free last year, and some mixed bedding dahlia seeds.

Ness again...

We are 'Friends of Ness Gardens', which means free entry to the gardens all year, for a membership (for two) of around £30.

So, we went this morning, although the sky was looking rather grey. Unfortunately, it was only around 10 mins into the visit that the heavens opened. SomeBeans managed to get some photos of the camellias and hellebores before we had to admit defeat and withdraw to the cafe for coffee and cake.

A good afternoon's work

Down the allotment today, with sunny and warm weather meaning that I was working in a T-shirt.
The warm winter means that weeds are growing well. I've had to fork through a bed to remove yet more couch grass roots - I'll gradually make my way through the other beds again over the next few weeks.

Just because I'm over-keen, I also planted some seeds:

• Carrot 'Early Nantes' (free from a magazine) - 1 row
• Spring Onion 'White Lisbon'
• Leek 'Autumn King' (?)
• Parsnip 'Avonresister', planted with radishes
• a few broad bean plants which were over-wintered in the greenhouse.
• Calendula 'Sherbert Fizz'
• Nigella (seeds harvested from the front garden)

Progress on plants in the greenhouse:

• the red-flowered broad beans are up, and a second sowing done
• tomato 'Tumbler' are up
• tomato 'Orange Banana' are up
• several types of salad leaves have germinated
• Rudbeckia have germinated
• Cabbage 'Primo' is starting to germinate.

Spring has sprung!

It was also nice to chat to another lady down the allotment - she has been there for 8-9 years, and has 2 plots (one shared with her daughter) and has just taken on a very overgrown allotment next to them. She said that there is a vixen which omes to see her, for marmite sandwiches.

No photos of the plot, as I forgot to take the camera down. We may have some photos of hellebores to put up tomorrow, as we're off to Ness Botanic Gardens in the morning if the weather is OK.

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.

Margaret Atwood

Little packets of anticipation

Days are lengthening and I've come over far too optimistic and have just sown lots of seeds. So, to remind me of what I've done when, for next year's planning, here's the list:

• Tomato 'Orange Banana'


• Tomato 'Tigerella'


• Lettuce mix: Herb Salad


• Lettuce mix: Oriental Mixed - second sowing


• Red Pepper


• Broad Bean (crimson flowered) - second sowing


• Sweet Peas - mixed variety


• Celeriac 'Giant Prague'


• Cabbage 'Primo'

I've also potted on the Aubergine 'Calliope' sown over a month ago, but the tomatoes gor too leggy and so have been consigned to the compost bin.

Weather is mild and damp (around 10 Celsius).

I've put out the hyacinth pots that I planted up in October - the pink flowers are out, but the blue ones are lagging behind.

In flower in the garden:

• Narcissus 'Tete a Tete'


• Helleborus x hybridus - variety of colours, from dark pink, green, cream, cream with red speckles, and a double cream flowered variety.

• Anemone blanda blue


• Miniature iris - 'Katherine Hodgekin' in the window box and unknown dark blue variety in the rose tub by the front door.


• The Sarcococca is now going over


• Mixed Crocus