Ceratonia

Tppical spring day on Saturday, bright sunshine, heavy showers, quite windy. Made a start on planting stuff out. Bit risky because there is a frost forecast for Monday, but I need the space indoors now, so some things will have to take their chances.

Tidied up the border behind the twisted hazel tree, which was full of couch and no doubt will be again soon. Planted six sweet peas up against the canes which had the convolvulus tricolor last year. Gave the penstemons a little trim at the same time - they have overwintered well - I thought they may not be hardy. Also planted out various narcissii that had been in the house and which had finished flowering - they'll go well under the hazel tree. Potted up some hyacinths and tulips that were in flower and took them inside - looking very nice. Potted up some more winter aconites, too, lots of them in the wrong place!

Also put some sweet peas in the veg patch, growing up a wigwam. They've been outside for a couple of weeks, so should've hardened off a bit. There are still a few spares should anything go wrong. Planted out the broad beans and peas also and constructed a nice forest of pea sticks from the hazel prunings.

Planted out the remaining potatoes (Sarpo Mira or Axona, not sure which) and Desiree (red maincrop). Pulled up the sprouts, fed the tops to the guinea pig and disposed of the stems.  Read somewhere that having a few weeks with no brassicas in the garden helps break the lifecycle of brassica pests. Not sure that will help much given that we are surrounded by farmers growing rapeseed. Checked on a few of the Dahlias, too, which I left in the ground during the winter. They look OK - no sign of frost damage or rotting.

Potted on the tomatoes, chilli peppers and aubergines into bigger pots, also a couple of pumpkins. Realised I have dozens of packets of seed to sow - need to get cracking. Globe artichokes have germinated, as have many of the other seeds, so they will need some attention, too.

Was extremely impressed on visiting Liesbeth's house (she is the chairperson of her local allotment society) to see that she has her window-sills, small greenhouse and patio covered in hundreds of pots of different seedlings - not too many of each. She also produced a wonderful meal, with literally a dozen or more different things from the allotment - no hungry gap there!

To finish, a picture of the tulip bed, used for cut flowers in the house at this time of year.

Nice mild day on Saturday - was out in my t-shirt. See Ladybirds all year round, but there were swarms of them this weekend - no going to be a good year for the aphids, I think. Saw a couple of bees and also a solitary Brimstone butterfly - picture below.

This site says they feed on aubretia, buddliea, lavender, purple loosestrife, runner bean & scabious. We have all of these in the garden, but I reckon this one might be a bit too early, as I don't think any are in flower ( the runner beans are still in the seed packet).

http://www.overthegardengate.net/wildlife/btemplate.asp?i...

Planted the jostaberry out in the fruit cage. Advice from several sources seems to be to cut it right down to a couple of buds above ground when planting, which seems a bit harsh, but that's what I did. Used the prunings as hardwood cuttings - we'll see if they take by autumn I suppose. Also took some cuttings from the 'Congo Cockatoo'  impatiens indoors, which was getting a bit leggy and also from the side shoots of the fuchsias which are intended to be trained as standards. 

Sowed parsnips, with radishes as a marker row - haven't tried this before. Not had any problem with parsnips before. Also sowed beetroot - haven't grown this for a few years. Planted out lettuce seedlings under the cloche. Put all of the early potatoes out - will do the maincrop in a couple of weeks. The varieties (2 of each!) are Catriona, Celine, Mimi, Orla, Rooster and Sharpe's Express, I think, plus one other.

Cut back some of the winter jasmine now that its finished flowering. Didn't do all of it though. Cut some tulips for the house and brought various narcissi, hyacinths & muscari that were in pots indoors - a nice set of flowers and some lovely scent from the hyacinth. Had the last of the leeks for lunchtime soup. The hungry gap is almost upon us - only a few parsnips left in the garden and a few herbs in the greenhouse.

Sad garden job was burying our guinea pig 'Bill' who died at the vet on Sunday Morning. He will be missed. His brother, Jo, is certainly missing him and I think we will probably be visiting the pet rescue centre for a replacement. We will probably get Bill neutered and introduce one or two females, as I think two unrelated males might fight.

Here's a picture of the butterfly. The books say the males are yellow and the females green. I would've described this one as yellowy-green, so am not sure which it was!

Had to go and work in Milan for past two weeks, at short notice, so no time to do anything in the garden when I was home for the weekends. Got a fairly beefy looking Jostaberry plant for my birthday, plus some 8ft long secateur type things which will be very handy for sorting out the hedge on the thin strip. Various seeds have germinated in my absence - the mimosa pudica, sunflowers, pumpkins & tomatoes the boys did. Lettuce & Brussels sprouts also - have started to harden these off ready to be planted out. Peas and broad beans are up too, first tulips making an appearance and the garlic and onions are growing well too. Eucalyptus gunnii and the huckleberry are showing also. No sign of life from the Chillis, though.

So the plan for this weekend is to cut back winter Jasmine, tidy up front garden properly and do the path, plant out the Jostaberry in the spare 'slot' in the fruit cage and get going with lots more seeds.