Strawberry update

A number of the strawbs are now flowering.

3 Pentlands sprouting

Seedlings out in the sun

Honesty update

The first pic above shows one of the honesty plants I grew from seed, the second pic shows an honesty plant which is growing wild.

Flower bed

Blossom

Plum blossom

Pear blossom (sorry, it's out of focus)

Apple blossom

More Antirrhinums potted up

These are the seedlings that have remained indoors since sowing - they're much larger than those I potted up and put in the cold frame some time ago.

First strawb flowers

Noticed them while watering the strawb bed this evening.

Marigolds potted up

The lost lupin

I thought this lupin had died last year, but although very small, it's still alive.

Honesty planted out

I planted 4 honesty in the back garden.

Front garden

Tulips

Phlox and rudbeckia potted up

Phlox in the square pots, rudbeckia in the round ones (I potted up more than are shown here).

Michaelmas daisies

A bunch of michaelmas daisies are growing in the bed where I'm going to grow the tomatoes, so I transplanted some of them to a flower bed.

Impatiens update

As mentioned in an earlier post, the impatiens which I potted up and put in my cold frame are not doing very well. However, these impatiens which have stayed indoors are romping ahead and will need to be potted up urgently.

Runner bean update

I hadn't planned on planting these out until mid-May, but at the rate they're growing I think I'll need to put them out some time in the next few days. Of the original 10 beans I sowed, one has failed to come up.

Runner beans sprouting

8 of the 10 beans I sowed are now sprouting.

Strawbs update

I weeded the strawb bed today. Will give them a feed when the sun has gone down.

Spud cage completed

I still haven't managed to exclude the foxes from the garden, so today I completed my spud cage.

This morning I saw a fox enter one side of the garden and eventually leave on the other. The entry point was where last autumn my neighbour leaned into my garden and removed a branch from one of my bushes (evidently it displeased him greatly for some reason - I know by law he can remove any branches overhanging into his garden, but he took off about 3 feet inside my property), thus giving the foxes a clear jump over the fence at that point. Tchah!

Will have to try to stop the foxes with strategically-placed garden canes.

Aster update

The aster seedlings seem to be just about hanging on (in most cases). The honesty seem to be handling the cold ok.

Why don't they call them 'warm frames'?

The seedlings under my makeshift cold frame are not doing too well. Some of the impatiens have died. It's evidently too cold. Luckily, I kept some impatiens and antirrhinum seedlings indoors, and they're doing ok.

Honesty planted out

I planted out 4 honesty in the front garden.

Front garden tidied

I removed quite a few of the grape hyacinth (hyacinths?), before they seed.

Asters potted up

Runner beans sown

Mystery plant identified

I have discovered that the mystery plant is called Honesty.

The link says that honesty seedling should not be kept in pots for any length of time as they have large roots. Maybe I need to plant mine out soon.

New fox defence technology

I have known for a long time that one of the entry points into the garden for foxes is this gap between the fences of two neighbouring properties. My first attempt at blocking the gap was with wire netting, but the foxes managed to compress it and walk over the top. I then stuck lots of twigs in the soil around the gap, but the foxes still managed to squeeze through. As neither of the fences are mine, I can't attach anything to them, but last night I thought of this solution, which allows me to adjust the length of the horizontal pieces of cane so that they meet the fences. A central post holds the milk bottles in place.

Hope this idea works.

Wanting to be noticed

I don't know what this insect is, but it obviously hasn't been reading its camouflage manual properly.

Front garden

I want to try to remove all the grape hyacinths at some stage because they take over everything else in the bed.

Tomatoes hardening off

This is the first real spring-like day we've had this year, so I put the toms and mystery plants out for a bit of acclimatisation.

Child of the blue primrose?

The primrose in front has only started flowering in the last week. I think it may be the sole survivor of the fox attack last year on the pot in which I was germinating seeds from a primrose with blue flowers.

First batch of spuds planted

I planted 6 pentlands, and 4 charlottes (which are those furthest from the camera in the first pic above).

Spud plot ready

Over the last couple of days I removed the plastic sheeting over the spud plot, and dug and raked it over.

Foxes still around

I have been trying to block off any known fox entry points around the garden, but this morning I found a tub had been turned over. On righting the tub I found a crushed snail, so evidently the fox had been hoping to dine on escargot.

'Sundial' plant seeds sown

Last autumn I saved seeds from another plant whose name I don't know. I call this the sundial plant.

Crocosmia?

I think the crocosmia I transplanted in the autumn are coming up. The soil, which has been frozen and battered with rain over the last few months, looks like stodgy porridge.

I think all the seedlings are forget-me-nots...hope so, anyway.