Strawberries and lettuce

Spent the afternoon giving the lawn some looking after today. Racked to scarify it then used an aerator to make some holes. Then covered in lawn feed and seed with a bit of lawn compost over the top. I've just watched a video on gardeners world and I more or less got it right. Hopefully it will grow nicely now.

I've a problem with the lawn mower. It doesn't seem to be cutting. I tried to lower the blade but can't work out how to do it. I don't like the mower anymore any way. It blows bits of grass clippings everywhere - including all over the flower bed. So I guess I'd like a proper one.

I also planted some strawberries in a planter. I'm worried is a bit small but the man in the garden centre said it woudl be fine. And I planted some lettuces in the movable planters.

I bought 2 more plants for by the patio in the fern bed. A Euphorbia Efanthia and a Fatsia Japonica.

I was tempted to buy lots of things for the other new bed along the other side of the garden but i think I better plan it first rather than just buy random things. I did buy one hosta - a golden tiara.

The Clementis Montana has now started flowering. I really must not prune it for a few years. It is so little to how it looked three years ago. I looked back through some old photos today. A lot of the shrubs as well as the clementis were much bigger in 2005 than they are now.

I repotted the 3 box plants as well. I had been keeping them all in one planter together on the front step but now I'd like to have three going up the steps.

Very tired

Well I planted all those plants today (almost - still 5 pinks to go in). The clay soil is pretty heavy and sticky so i was mixing it with manure for every hole. It took about 7 hours so I'm pretty tired and am going to really ache tomorrow.

I also repotted my tomato plants and put them in the plant house. The sweet peas and salad leaves I'd been growing by the window in the spare room hadn't really worked. P said they need more light. So today threw a lot away that were no good and everything else has gone in the plant house. The tomatoes which were a bit leggy just got planted in long pots and the soil a bit further up the stem. I'll do more salad leaves next weekend.

I'd hoped to mow the lawn today but was too tired. I put some feed on at the end of the day. Hopefully I'll get to mow it in the next week. It does need some serious tlc as it looks a bit wrecked at the mo. It does need some more seed at some point. The seed i put on before is still just sitting on the top - so much for the growth it promised within 4 days. I think I need to mix some more with compost and rake it in. I'll do that after its had a mow.

So here are some photos taken with my phone of the new planting. The hot bed is planted and the cottage garden was waiting to go in. Plus I've just realised now I haven't put the fennel seeds in either. So I will need to find some time this week or next weekend. Wish I could have another day off work. Could quite happily spend it finishing stuff in the garden. The weather was actually quite nice today as well and was quite warm this afternoon. In fact its still 10 degrees now. The thermoeter in the plant house isn't working though. umm. Not that i know what temp the tomoatoes are meant to be kept at anyway.

48 plants

P (from D&P fame) came to help me today plan my new flower beds. We spent lots of time talking about what I wanted and looking up plans and nearly missed the garden centre being open.

But I now have 48 little babies that are just waiting to be planted. P has placed them out so I'll be busy doing that tomorrow.

He also helped me move the shrubs around a bit as well and confirmed that the lavetera is dead. So this evening I chopped that right back to the stump. I also got to ask him several more "plant or weed" questions and so was able to pull a lot of weeds up.

So I now know that the three shrubs I have are:
1) Choisya ternata - Mexican orange blossom. This makes a really nice smell when you knock against it. There was a little one of these as well which we've moved to go between the two parts of the big flower bed.
2) photina - red robin. This is the shrub in the middle which currently has lovely red leaves. There is also one opposite which used to be smothered by the lavetera. It looks a bit straggly at the moment but might thrive now the lavetera is cut back.
3) pieris - this we moved to in front of the Photina. there are also 2 small ones which we've put in the opposite bed.

The pretty shrub that was between the Choisya and the photina with the papery leaves looks a bit dead now. The landscapers moved it forward but it wasn't looking very healthy today. It turns out its not got many roots that's why. So we moved it to over by the gap left by the christmas tree and I gave it a light prune to make it a little less top heavy. We did find out what it was as we were moving it - but I've forgotten and not written it down. I'll look tomorrow.

So here are the flowers that are going in the new beds:

HOT BED
Helenium "the bishop"
Kniphofa - royal castle and red hot poker
Rudbeckia
Oriental poppies
Lupins - gallery red
Coreopis
Daliha tubers

PINK / COTTAGE BED
Cistus Corbariensis
Rose - Graham Thomas
Geranium - himalayene Gravetyre
Campanula
Foxglove
Aquilegia - rose barlow
Lupin
Cistus Hibridus
Penstomon
Delphinium
Cistus Decumber "sun rose"
Coreopis - american dream
Pinks
Fennel
plus the alliums that are already there
plus I've 3 iris bulbs

Camera is away again so no pics for now.

Weeding

Today I weeded lots of little trees out of the beds and some weeds out of the lawn. The grass seed I spread everywhere last weekend hasn't done anything. I think I might need to mix it with some compost and have another go. So I thought it was worth pulling out some of the worst weeds first.

I moved a couple of the shrubs again to make room to plant flowers tomorrow. The birds are getting through the seeds in the bird feeder quicker and quicker. I think the squirrels may have worked out a way to get to it - but I haven't caught them in the act yet. They sit on the post below the feeder so I'm sure they are up to no good.

Its still so cold - it hasn't gone above 10 degrees for ages.

Terrazzo garden table

This is the garden table I'd like. Better start saving.

Terrazzo is a mix of crushed granite and then polished smooth.

Birds in the garden

These are the birds that come for dinner round mine..

Sun, hail, rain and wind

This weekend the weather has been pretty changeable - sun, hail, wind, rain...

I cleaned the bit of concrete patio outside the shed and moved one of the plants from the bed outside the house up to by the new patio area. I also put some containers and the silver balls I bought last weekend on the patio area. I've seen a lovely big silver wave that would look fab in our fern area at the end of the garden.

The lawn is still not great at all. Some of the stepping stones still get very water logged when you walk on them and have sand spilling round the edges. I was filling in the gaps with grass seed this afternoon - but I got a bit carried away and ended up using the whole packet which is for a 30 meter square garden. I haven't put a net over it any way

Due to be planting up the flower beds next weekend but it's still pretty cold so I guess I'll have to be a bit careful what goes in.

Snow in April

What a surprise when I looked out the window this morning! On the 6th April last year we were picnicking on Brighton beach.

Yesterday I had planted up a herb pot plus a couple of pots with heather and summer bedding. I also gave the patio near the house a really good scrub. I couldn't believe the difference it made. So when I saw the snow at 8am this morning I rushed out to bring the herbs inside and to try and give the pots some protection.

So I don't know how all the bulbs that are out will cope. There are some beautiful big tulips that have come out this week. They were laden down with snow this morning.