I only did an amble to the compost heap to empty a bucket of kitchen waste. On my travels, I found two large clumps of crocus buds ready to pop open. I think they are the variety with the saffron stamens. They are a very pale lavender colour with bright orange stamens, stunning when they all open together. I checked the seeds I sowed two weeks ago. The sweetpeas and kale are through so removed their plastic domes, I will move them down to the greenhouse when they are bigger.
Washed pots and trays ready to pot on my autumn sown onions. Tip trimmed the Golden Yew. It had a little "lollipop" of growth on its top which looked silly so I did a small reshape.
It's cold here, -4° overnight, so I'm waiting to start moving things around and pruning too much. However, I can dig for France! Holes mostly prepared for the trees, which are arriving today, and I've made a start on the other side of the drive. The pain is to find the mower's boundary wire as that has to be moved.
Looking forward to the temperatures picking up next week (hopefully).
I've been spending every possible minute since our trees were turned into wood chip, preparing the area where we want to spread them behind the shed and around the veg beds. The robin is very pleased with me. The area behind the shed will be used as a standing-out place for pots, and might have the odd seat on it too... eventually it would be great to have a small polytunnel, when funds allow. It's annoying not to have prepared it sooner, but we had a wasp's nest underground in the middle of the area last year.
Now I've come in for a warming cuppa - it's only 5C and windy...
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
No gardening, busy making a Lemon Cheesecake and Fresh Fruit Salad for our Pasty nd Pud. Lunch. Found my "blubber glubs" so I can make a start on my woodcrete nesting box. Delighted to see great tits going into 2 of my nesting boxes, whilst I was drinking my cup of coffee in the conservatory. The females are so fussy! They go in and out so many times before deciding finally they do not like it anyway!
Yesterday collected a load of horse muck from the stables and worked it into my two compost heaps. Bagged some ready for OH's sweet-pea bed & top-dressing of the roses.
Today I pruned my Clematis viticellas down to a couple of strong buds and shredded the resulting tangle down for the compost heap.
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
Sounds like there's lots of activity going on - I read all your comments to feel like I'm working with you (if you see what I mean!). And eating your cheescake, @Joyce Goldenlily, my fave!
Well, the trees arrived and are planted. Phew. Totally thrown by one of them as the only thing that looked like a graft point was way up the trunk (such as it is, they're dwarf), and so close to the branches I couldn't possibly use it as a depth guide. The others were more straightforward, thankfully.
Sounds like there's lots of activity going on - I read all your comments to feel like I'm working with you (if you see what I mean!). And eating your cheescake, @Joyce Goldenlily, my fave!
Well, the trees arrived and are planted. Phew. Totally thrown by one of them as the only thing that looked like a graft point was way up the trunk (such as it is, they're dwarf), and so close to the branches I couldn't possibly use it as a depth guide. The others were more straightforward, thankfully.
I hadn't used the recipe for the cheesecake before and I ended up with a rather large one. But it does taste good. (Licked bowl, yes, I still do it!)It is made in an 8-inch tin and is about 5 inches deep. We have 16 people signed up for the Pasty and Pud., lunch so far but there are one or two who I know really pig out when they attend this kind of event. I have watched them at it in the past. The tropical fruit salad is also yummy, with mango, pineapple, cherries, kiwi fruit, pomegranate, etc., in a lemon, and sugar syrup. It is not easy to get these fruits ripened properly at this time of year, I should have thought of something else to make. Doh!
There is a lot of pre-nesting activity going on amongst the feathered fraternity at the moment. Territories to be decided, feeding spots to be established, accommodation to be chosen, etc. I am very lucky to have a wide variety of birds coming to my garden.
I would be concerned about the grafting joint on your tree. Keep an eye on it as you may find the lower portion of rootstock will begin throwing suckers which will need removing if you want to keep the dwarfing stock healthy.
I have decided to make up a small quantity of woodcrete to play with to get some idea of how much water to use, see what it feels like to handle, and how it behaves. I might make a garden gargoyle thingy out of the test batch to go by the pond. I have a couple peeking out from amongst plants.
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On my travels, I found two large clumps of crocus buds ready to pop open. I think they are the variety with the saffron stamens. They are a very pale lavender colour with bright orange stamens, stunning when they all open together.
I checked the seeds I sowed two weeks ago. The sweetpeas and kale are through so removed their plastic domes, I will move them down to the greenhouse when they are bigger.
Tip trimmed the Golden Yew. It had a little "lollipop" of growth on its top which looked silly so I did a small reshape.
Looking forward to the temperatures picking up next week (hopefully).
Now I've come in for a warming cuppa - it's only 5C and windy...
Delighted to see great tits going into 2 of my nesting boxes, whilst I was drinking my cup of coffee in the conservatory. The females are so fussy! They go in and out so many times before deciding finally they do not like it anyway!
Today I pruned my Clematis viticellas down to a couple of strong buds and shredded the resulting tangle down for the compost heap.
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
Well, the trees arrived and are planted. Phew. Totally thrown by one of them as the only thing that looked like a graft point was way up the trunk (such as it is, they're dwarf), and so close to the branches I couldn't possibly use it as a depth guide. The others were more straightforward, thankfully.
Still had a good frost and another one due tomorrow
There is a lot of pre-nesting activity going on amongst the feathered fraternity at the moment. Territories to be decided, feeding spots to be established, accommodation to be chosen, etc. I am very lucky to have a wide variety of birds coming to my garden.
I would be concerned about the grafting joint on your tree. Keep an eye on it as you may find the lower portion of rootstock will begin throwing suckers which will need removing if you want to keep the dwarfing stock healthy.
I have decided to make up a small quantity of woodcrete to play with to get some idea of how much water to use, see what it feels like to handle, and how it behaves. I might make a garden gargoyle thingy out of the test batch to go by the pond. I have a couple peeking out from amongst plants.