No Trowel Wednesday

Who can believe that we both forgot the trowels today.

And it was pretty hard as we had sunflowers, mesembryanthemums, mirabilis and some beans to get in.

I ended up using a small hand fork!!! and Steve used a short hoe!!! I don`t know who was worse off. 

 We might be moaning about the weather but the soil is perfect for planting. And everything is doing so well.

Potatoes and onions

The wild flower patches are doing well so far.

But the most astonishing growth has to be the compost area where discarded p(l)ants are thrown ( I nearly left this spelling mistake in) .... all their seeds are germinating. It is a great place for scavenging new plants.

Poppies, feverfew, forgetmenots and the odd nettle!!

The quince flowers are open and the bees are happy.

Just look at this one closely, covered in pollen. I`m now wondering if its a pseudo-bee.
 

 

The tomatoes are well away and self-seeded nasturtiums going great guns. How I love them.

The borage just gets better and bluer.

Anne has mown the grass and it looks great.

The first geum flowers are out.

 

Thank goodness for a lovely gardening day. I was beginning to get fed up dodging showers. But I did get 8 trays of bedding in so I was very happy.

Next time ..... more about no-mow-May at home.

Poppies versus Potatoes

 For me this is a no-brainer but perhaps when those first potatoes are being dug up, I may change my mind.

Steve and I are always fighting over space but usually come to some amicable arrangement which means flowers along the edges of every veggie bed.

But perhaps this is going a little bit too far.

And bearing in mind that Steve has already removed quite a few. However this time, I do not take responsibility as they are self-seeded.

These will be those beautiful papery poppies. The potatoes can be seen just emerging in the top right hand corner.

Everything has gone mad in the last few days.... an unbelievable growth spurt. The grass needs cutting, the beds need weeding and dozens and dozens of plants need to go in.

Today we concentrated on tomatoes and borlotti beans.

Big Daddy, Akron, Costaluto, Princepe Borghese.

I couldn`t bear to pull out this borage which is attracting bees. So for now it stays.

The nasturtiums have self-seeded again. They look beautiful.

It was an ideal day to weed and admire the quince blossom just opening.

I save lots of seed and scatter it anywhere and everywhere.

This is corncockle.

And dotted around, all kinds of poppy seedlings coming up.

Even sunflowers have self-seeded

The next big job will be the many sunflowers (grown from seed) that I intend planting but I`m unwilling to do it before the winds forecast for Friday.

Oh and sweetcorn.

Plenty to do.

Flowery Gnomes and Pastel Teds

It has been a long time since I made small toys, mainly because there was no outlet, so I have been enjoying myself.

I have been quite taken with the gnomes, for seasons other than Christmas .... summer gnomes, autumn gnomes etc

I have tried some different ones. I made up the pattern as I went along but finally used the cardboard wool cones that have been in the loft for the last 20 years. 

They are about 25 cms tall.

Then I tried some much smaller ones. They are a bit more floral.

Steve cut me some log slices for the bases so they are fairly stable. They are about 15 cms high. The body is in crochet.

During tea and lunch breaks I have been making this eclectic mix of tiny crochet teds. They all have a little cream scarf.

And the little donkeys are always popular on the craft trolley.

At the first coffee morning of the year, we had a parade of the knitted coats.

I think we look like a colourful bunch. They will all be off to the charity soon. I would love to know who ends up wearing them.

 

Pots of Blue and Bumblebees Too

 This is the coldest and driest spring I ever remember. At least we are getting some rain now. The advantages are out-weighed by the disadvantages. For instance the tulips have lasted much longer but the magnolia was ruined quite soon into flowering.

The disadvantages are the reluctance to chance anything either in the ground or with hardening off. I`ve learnt to my cost that seedlings going straight into the ground followed by cold, are not going to be successful .... radishes, coriander ..... but at least the beetroot came up.

The greenhouses are only just starting to thin out with hardier stuff under temporary tunnels. It is a bit of an eye-opener to read in my diary that this time last year the tomatoes were in.

But things must be looking up as my mason bees are hatching and exploring the bee home. This massive bumblebee was caught in the garden room and not released until I had a couple of decent photos.

A funny thing happened with my mesembryanthemum seeds. I only managed to germinate enough for one precious trayful. The soil was tipped into a bucket and from there used to pot up my dahlia pot luck pots. Yesterday I found said seedlings have germinated on top of the dahlia pots!!!

What is to be learnt from this? That seeds will come up when they are good and ready? I will be pricking them out from here now.

I have masses of "pot luck" dahlias. These are pieces that break away over winter, usually single tubers. I pot them all up as I can`t bear to throw them away. And they make a wonderful show.

This is probably about half of them. If you are coming yurting you might be lucky and find some at the little nursery. Who knows what you will get?

All my cornflowers are now in the ground, also lavatera, sweetpeas and some cosmos. Steve has got a lot of the green stuff in ..... kale, broccolli, sprouts, red cabbage, all protected from, mainly pigeons.

The rest will have to wait as the spring show, at home, is in its full glory.

I haven`t heard the cuckoo yet. Now there`s a bird who has some sense and stayed away til its warmer.

I have always loved Gardeners World but I have to say that I am getting fed up with repeated features from previous years and a fixation with cats and dogs. It seems like they have trouble filling up the hour slots. However I have enjoyed their features on viewers gardens. The 13 year old boy with his succulent collection was great, last night but I`m not so keen on a 10 minute slot on the history of lawns!!!
My cousin Belinda has suggested a program called Beechgrove which we are going to try tonight.

In the meantime, simple forgetmenots in a pot are gladdening my heart.

And camassias in bloom.