Scorchio !

Well, today is my birthday and what a cracking day - clear blue skies, baking hot sun, not a breath of wind (at least within the walls). As it has been dry for quite a few weeks now, I thought I'd try getting a fire going to burn a lot of the cotoneaster hedging that I cut back -well, it's all gone now, as is the largest burn pile that was situated in the proposed permanent veg area.

So above is a pic of the proposed veg area as it is at the moment, with the residue of a small bonfire in the foreground and the larger one behind that - still a lot of work to do to get it all cleared and formalised for next season though !
After the various fires, I returned to this years "temporary" veg patch, which I have been clearing and preparing using the Mantis Tiller, garden spade and fork and loppers. It is now all cleared and I semi-formalised the edges but as I forgot my builders line, I'll straighten them up next week. So this years veg will be in an area 20m long by 2.5 m wide, which will hopefully be enough - pictured below...

Still on the subject of vegetables, I started sowing some of the seed today. So now, to add to everything else in the greenhouse we have 12 x "Hispi" Cabbage, 12 x "Nelson" Brussels Sprouts, 12 x "Red Arrow" PSB, 6 x Perpetual Spinach and 6 x "Cheesy" Cauliflower. In addition to these I have leeks Lyon Prizetaker and 4 varieties of tomato - Black Cherry, Gardeners Delight, Golden Sunrise and Tigerella, all of which I have started at home and will take over to the garden when they are ready.

The self saved lupin seed that I sowed last wee has already started to germinate and at the moment we have about 40 through. There are also another 2 Tree Peonies through (that makes three in total) - again from self saved seed. The Sweet Peas also had a bit of work done as most were at the right stage to have their main stem cut back to encourage the growth of side shoots. Apparently (and this was new to me, the original main stem of most sweet pea plants is "blind" (in that it will not produce any or very few flowers)

This photo of the greenhouse will give you an idea of how warm it got today - at about 3pm this afternoon, with the double doors and both sets of side louvres being opened on my arrival this morning, the 5 greenhouse vents were still wide open to control he temperature. I dug over the soil in the larger bed in preparation for the tomatoes etc but the smaller bed is still home to some Rainbow Chard and I thought the Red one looked particularly nice in the sunlight

Elsewhere in the garden, the Cherry blossom is just beginning to open and both trees (a variety called "Governor") have more blossom than I have seen before, albeit most of it has still to open - and hopefully the winter wash will have further depleted the pests so that we might actually get a crop !

Everything continues to green up and new shoots are appearing all the time, but at the moment, the main splash comes from the daffs and there are quite a few different varieties within the walls...

The only one I can be sure of naming correctly is the third photo down - this is a variety called Ice Folly - I know cause I planted these ones !
So that's about it for today. Back next week but before I go, here is this week's pic from the Potting Shed

Mid March

Well, here we are in the middle of March and things are still threatening to burst into life in the garden, but are not quite there yet. The Pulmonaria which has been in flower for the last two weeks is looking more spectacular with each passing week......

Whilst the daffodils that are in the long borders are just on the point of bursting into flower.......

.....there are a couple that already have. This first one is a dwarf daffodil planted in the small bulb bed by the summerhouse......

and this is one of the original doubles that are located along the line of the path just below this years veg patch under the large holly tree.......

Elsewhere in the garden, there are buds appearing everywhere, as well as weeds, so I started my day by hand weeding the top long border and got about one third of it's length done. I then got the Mantis out and rotovated some more of the ground that will be used for this years veg. There are still a lot of roots that need to be dug up before the Masntis will look at the ground, but once it gets going it's a great machine, and it doesn't wreck your body in the way the large rotovators do. Anyway, some more ground has been blackened and I will do a bit more again next week if it stays dry.

I also sowed some self saved lupin seed as Sally would like a wall of lupins just below the hedge of the lower long border and there aren't as many self-seeded plants in the border this year.
The greenhouse continues to flourish with everything greening up nicely and most of the sweet peas are through.
And just to prove that patience really is a virtue, I sowed some tree peony seeds that I gathered at another garden I work at,  about 18 months ago - left them outside for the best part of that time and today,,, look what I have... a baby tree peony !!!!!

To finish the day off I lifetd some more leeks and cut some PSB for Sally.
And finally, here is this weeks piccie of the borders from the potting shed. See you all again next week.