Some where, round about

  Loving this darker honeysuckle right now, should be taken out as in totally the Wrong place and is very old but I simply can't bring myself to do it. Am layering some .....and have taken cuttings..... We have another that has paler leaves and flowers and yet another that is more yellow. I don't think one can have too much honeysuckle in a garden.... Aged Parent was transfered to a care home that wasn't quite al, it could be. Social workers interrogated the paperwork and found more the sins of Omission than the sins of commission.  But after Words...the home is now functioning properly. Staff a lot  happier for certain. Question : what happens to folk without family? ( not everyone is married with children ) There has been a full month where family on the ground are stretched to breaking point. If anyone reading this has not sorted their Power of Attorney  whatever it is called ....explicitly for welfare/ care and health....do it now. For the love of all that you ho...

 Aaaaaand one care home has been left, (I think closed now) Another entered Because The final one is closed to admissions. But there is NO suitable half way home so this poor parent has to stay in a Decidedly sub standard hovel of a place while waiting for final care home to be released from covid closure. This situation is being duplicated up and down the country and with this next change to restrictions almost upon us......will anyone's aged parents ever make a hoped for next stage of their journey?  Who knows. Here I am either tethered to telephone / email/ scanner / printer Or Firmly out in the garden....... and preferably Not Contactable! We have finished off one phone altogether and a second is fine  temperamental, so this old trusty from the early 2000s has been hauled back into use! Delighting in: Borage,  echium,  nasturtium,  our roses with Gorgeous scent!,  purple loosestrife,  yellow poppies ( & someone has sent orange poppy seeds,...

   June arrived and with it all fear of frost and damage fled. It seems hard to remember those long days watching through the windows as new tender shoots on the hebe were crushed....as our sturdy fuschia buds were no more.....and as anything foolish enough to have been planted within the previous 30 days ....was obliterated.  Leaving the annual cauliflowers nonchalantly battling wind, rain, hail and general Very Bad Weather  whilst the beetroot, cabbage, onions and garlic did likewise. But now? Outside is now being gently clothed with aquilegia and poppy......and a very welcome sight these are! Seeds left shuddering in the greenhouse were ceremoniously tipped onto spare ground and, unless the seedlings had Four Proper Leaves, I started again. This means that parts of our garden resemble a jumble sale! Lots of frogspawn tried everso hard, then sank without trace. Pessimistic, i feared the worst but we do have a few tadpoles still and the frogs are staying around the ...

We continue living in a home with two views; proximity to the coast line makes for interesting times with mist out of one window and sunlight the other, view of the far sea one way, yet No Fields In Sight the other. Thank you gardening magazines, for both seeds and reading matter! In no special order: Chillies and tomatoes didn't germinate. Two lots of lettuce went great guns but the next two lots look.....Sulky. Radishes ( long white and globe red) growing beautifully. Brassicas have taken off- must make collars and coverings. Carrots holding firm n steady. Garlic n Onions are doing OK. Think I will go back to sets next year though..... Kohl  Rabi and Celeriac are at the six leaf stage....they need to grow, we need sun. Potatoes are in. Peas are in. Beetroot and turnip are looking reluctant to me, so they ve been given some shelter. Chard by the yard, but not big enough to be planted out. Coriander, basil, Welsh chives and ordinary chives are galloping on. Flowers are a thing this...

 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...

Although official hibernation ended,  March was an odd one, requiring a degree of reflection. Sunshine a-plenty. Not too much wind. Hopes of fabulous germination. The reality of this dratted virus (TDV) sunk in. For a slew of reasons, the media generally became an unsafe place.....for me. So no handy radio. Who knew I used the radio that much! Starting an intentional 40 days of mindfulness (sitting with an image) in another place came Just At The Right Time for me to take my own medicine. Serendipity strikes. Rather than hauling this out last year, I have just left it be. And look! There is much to be said for sometimes letting things alone. Garlic has been bedded in for a while now, surviving the earlier frosts fine. Trying some Very basic wind shelter to halt the 45 degree bends we had last year! Carrot seedlings requesting sunshine! Please! Now! Or yesterday for preference! Claytonia Perfoliata  aka Miners lettuce is a stupendous success, in greenhouse! Only!  Although...

  At least, on my window sill the growing season has started anyway. May I introduce the garlic? My first lot of garlic were rooted in the greenhouse during November, hardened off outside during December and planted out last week. The second lot were rooted on a window sill over Christmas and potted up last week, currently in a greenhouse. Now these beauties! It is exciting, the beginning of springtime. Tbh I had been utterly unwilling to get out of bed in the mornings for the past few months. That has changed! I ve been in the greenhouse before now  but today saw the studio opened and the woodburner lit. Radio on too as I sorted and catalogued the seed packets. So, where are we up to from last year's over wintering? Claytonia Perfoliata, aka miners lettuce. That has done really well, but should have been germinated earlier. These taste great and we have already enjoyed a decent salad from the interestingly shaped leaves, so this pot looks a little depleted. . It will Not be a...