Dandelions and Dahlias

At the moment its all about planting out and keeping it watered. There wasn`t a great deal of rain throughout April and so far not much in May. Any new planting needs to be watched carefully

At home we have a lot of bedding still to go in but each day the number is going down by about 7or 8 trays. And the 156 dahlia tubers are gradually reducing. Here are the dahlias sprouting madly after being in the ground all winter.

Today I allocated a bare bit of raised bed for my unknown dahlia tubers so its going to be interesting to see what comes up. There are always a few where the labels drop off.

I have put in a tray of helichrysum and the last of the giant sunflowers. I`m just hoping that we find enough stakes when windy season kicks in.

Steve got the shading over the polytunnel and it brought the temperature down by a couple of degrees immediately.

We were glad of our teabreak as it got hotter.

 

I mended a willow fairy base. They are all round the garden this year. In the photo you can see the empty pots so far.

Two willow fairies on the snug.

 

The purple bearded irises are at their peak. I am interested to note that most of these are deep purple when once they were all cream and mauve. I read up about it and it seems that the darker rhizomes tend to take over. One thing is for sure, these will need thinning out after they have flowered.

Meanwhile the tortoises are happily chomping through their daily lettuces. They also love dandelions flowers. I usually find them a few each.
 

Funny to think this used to be the exit from the garden at one time.