April proper!

 it has been windy. And cold. Foliage has been shredded and early flowers frosted.  It's not been a pretty sight. Flowering currants took a particularly bad hit. 

The celandines and dandelions have kept the bees and butterflies ok but they have had their moments, queuing for the nectar is a thing! As is working in the garden and having the butterflies right up close by and the bees happily brushing against my hands. Odd. But quite lovely...

Springtime has showed just how much plastic clutter there is in the garden, from the very necessary pond liner to random buckets and pots left about the place. Now. There IS method in the madness...when the pots Are Full Of Plants, but the ones i saw today were more of the " Oh That's where those two buckets went to" thing.

Brassica germination has happened! Overwintered cauliflowers are out with feverfew interplaneted. I'm hoping their scent might deter the dreaded cabbage white. The cabbages are being raised in pots , will be transplanted soon and those pots will be protected. 

Heavens above, what a faff. All those bamboo poles with a cork on the end,  then a proper pottery pot. Draped all about with nets and tucked in like so many children's beds!

If it works though, I might go the whole hog and do it properly.

Sweet peas have been started! And glory be they are steadily growing. I am ridiculously pleased with their progress. More have been started and they also are behaving brilliantly. On a roll now, another six were sown today!

 

Daffoldils were raised in pots to provide some colour at the front of the house. Then weather! Some survived and for those I am deeply grateful. I dead headed swiftly and once the sunshine returned the daffs are back flowering again. These are on the other side of our pond, reminding me that one can Never have too many daffodils so we Must buy more in September.

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These kingcups / marsh marigolds are fabulous right now. They make my heart SING!

Oh yeah, check out what I found at the back of a shed of drawers in the garden studio!

I should grow these properly....but they are beautiful just as they are. They are laid to rest under a rowan tree and I am hoping they self seed into the difficult bit of land there. If so, they can run to seed and happiness. I may just raise a few though. Just in the interests of research.

Come to think of it, there is a fair bit of In The Intererests of Research going on here!

My favourite shrub, all gracefully drooping about the place!

Thing is, it has been planted as the sort of shrub one faithfully trims every year.  Iirc, this is easy to propagate. So in theory anyway, I could always have it one meter to the right.....in a few years time !

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life is calmer

brutally making space for things that add to my life

And

cheerfully eliminating those that detract

Candles

Classic fm

And a good book on the go.

If I am not outside

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