Quite a few months have passed since I contributed to Helen’s Patient Gardener end of month meme ‘End of Month View’ (EOMV). This week we’ve been wrapping our gardens up in fleece and hot water bottles due to freezing temperatures and snow. Can you believe it?! My kitchen floor has been covered with seed trays in order to protect them from the below zero nights. During the day in sheltered areas the sun is quite warm, so the poor plants must be wondering what on earth is going on.
The sweet peas have been outside for several weeks and are ready to be planted. This year I am growing Horizon Mixed and Old Fashioned Mixed. I am never organized enough to sow them in the autumn so only sowed them a couple of months back, I am sure they will do just as well.
Last week I planted the Charlotte potatoes and I am looking forward to having the first ones in about 12 weeks. I am not sure how they will turn out this year, I bought seed potatoes from Wilko, they only cost £1.50 for 4. I then read that you get a better crop buying from reputable garden centres and online plant companies rather than discount stores who purchase second class/substandard stock. I shall report back after my first meal of Charlottes.
The right hand side of the garden is frequently in shade and over the winter became very boggy and the edges broke down. I have put in wooden edging and sowed heavy duty grass seed, also from Wilko. It is beginning to look a lot better, although the grass is a different color to the rest of the lawn, hopefully it will sort itself out. My next job is to give the whole lawn a good rake and scatter more lawn seed to thicken it up.
For a few years now, I have had a small strawberry plant in quite the wrong place so a few weeks ago I split it, made four plants and put them in the same bed as the raspberries, which makes sense to have the fruit together. The raspberries are spreading themselves everywhere, so I am expecting a bumper crop! I quite fancy a blueberry bush so will take a look to see if I have room, but having said that there is always room in any garden if you put your mind to it!
I am happy to see that the peony has a number of flower buds on it, this plant is always hit or miss and not terribly reliable. It is a very pretty pink single peony that I have had for several years now, but a little temperamental. It looks very pretty surrounded by forget me nots.
Despite the unexpected cold snap, the Peiris ‘Forest Flame’ is looking splendid. I also noticed some flower heads appearing on the climbing hydrangea. The Choysia is also beginning to bloom.
If you follow my blog regularly, and thank you if you do, you may recall I recently took a saw to the Sambucus (Elder) reducing it to half its height. I am happy to show you that it is full of new purple stems. It won’t flower this year but at least it will be a bit tidier than previous years. It’s amazing how much rough treatment a Sambus can take.
I’ve been given a Sisrynchium striatum, which I am reliably informed I showed great interest in when wandering around a garden last summer – I don’t remember, but am delighted with it. All I have to do now is find a suitable place and space for it, any advice is welcomed.
I leave you with a photo of the side patio together with a photo of a few pots of tulips on the back patio. I will be writing a separate post about my tulips, so I won’t spoil this for you.
Thank you Helen for hosting this meme.
