Clematis Frances Rivers

 This is a beautiful little Clematis it is the first one to flower my garden every year .
I'm longing to paint it but this is the busiest time of the year in the garden and usually finished flowering  before I get a chance to paint it.
 Maybe this year I may get a chance to at least start it.

Tulips

Orange Juice

Bulb bench in Greenhouse

Queen of the night

Red Tulip

Double Red Tulip

The Tulips this year have been really beautiful. Most were bought at the end of the year as reductions when the store was making room for their Christmas decorations.Some had lost their labels so I don't know their names.It gets difficult describing the many different shades of red. .As they  finish
 blooming I will plant them in the garden  ready for flowering next year.
I really love their bright loud colours they are what we need need in the spring after the grey dull dreary days of winter.

Pruning, planting ,shedding ,mulching.

A really busy weekend I transplanted all my lilies from pots into the ground around the seating area. They had outgrown the pots and the bulbs are really huge . They should give a really good show this summer.

 The lily bulbs of Regal where transplanted into half barrels 6 to each barrel they will sit just outside the sitting area .

I was unable to put them into their final  positions as a bumble bee has nested down an old mouse hole just where the right hand barrel should sit so I will have to put it up on bricks so we can both share the same spot. It will also protect the bee nest from the rain.

This may sound extreme but the bumble bee is under a lot of stress and they need all the help we can give them.

 The Early potatoes are already through in the 2 greenhouses and are ready for top dressing with compost.

I did a huge amount of pruning Saturday Today  I put all  prunings through the shredder .These shreddings then go onto the flower border ( 1) it holds in the moisture and saves me watering in the summer( 2) it smothers any weeds that may have grown ,and (3) saves me money on not having to buy bark to mulch.

So many plants are now producing flower buds , including fingers crossed the Plum trees. Five years old now and still waitingg

Cultivated form Lesser Celendine

When this little plant with its bright yellow flowers comes into bloom I always feel that spring is well and truly here.I bought it At the RHS winter show way back in 1999 when I was awarded my Silver Medal for my paintings of Solanaceae. its a well behaved little plant is neither invasive nor does it produce seed  

Winter Flowering Honeysuckle

There was a time over the winter when  this small Winter Flowering Honeysuckle was buried under 10 inches of snow and I thought it would never recover .So you can imagine how delighted I was when I saw these two small flowers this morning .

Work in progress at the moment

 The last of the first early potatoes planted in the garden today ,the variety is Rocket a lovely tasting early potato.


Arrival of 15 Ivy Leaf  Geraniums for the hanging baskets. I lost quite a few of my own plants in the severe frost, in spite of them being in the greenhouse. These new  plants were ordered before Christmas. By the time it gets to spring I have forgotten what I ordered so its a nice surprise when the postman comes.


All the garden is waking up at last The autumn planted onion sets are growing away well and we are getting plenty of Purple Sprouting Broccoli , the Cauliflowers are over and Spring Cabbages are ready to harvest.


The tomatoes have all been potted into 4 inch pots ready for planting into the green house in a few weeks when the soil has warned up enough.


The pricking out of seedlings for the flower garden is an on going daily job.

Camellias

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Pale Pink

Pale pink with red fleck

Deep Red 

These beautiful Camellias in my garden apart from one which I know is Debbie I’m afraid I don’t know their  names .they were all grown from  3inch cuttings about 15 years ago. The way I rooted the cuttings was totally different from any  that are usually recommended. I use just Perlite in a container without drainage and the perlite is kept fully saturated at all times . (The beauty of Perlite is its ability to hold pockets of water and pockets of air at the same time ) This ensures that the newly forming roots have an adequate supply of water and air. I actually used a glass jar to root mine in so I could see when a good root had formed and was able to judge when to pot the cuttings on. These bushes are now about 4 feet in height apart from Debbie which is about 5 feet .

Up date on garden

The bulbs are coming into bloom thick and fast .The potted ones will be planted into the garden as soon as the flowers are over.

When  the seed potatoes arrived my grand daughter Dora and I put them to chit and when we had finished there were quite a few shoots had fallen off. We put them into a seed tray with some compost to see if they would grow. We are going to plant them in tubs and see how they grow and if they will produce any potatoes.

The Purple Sprouting Broccoli is starting to produce its flower spikes and we will have our first taste of them for dinner tomorrow. The plants are smaller than usual but I suppose that is due to the severe cold weather we have had this winter.Never the less they are producing plenty of flower spikes.

I have sown Climbing French Beans and Runner Beans in pots.These will be planted in the large greenhouse in the hope of having an earlier crop.Maybe early July. I had a lot of trouble last year with voles eating the roots of plants in the greenhouse so I will have to find a way of protecting them.

Lilies Regale

Lily Regal Bulb

sitting area

These beautiful lily bulbs arrived this morning .When the advert said Giant bulbs I didn't expect them to be so large .they will be planted 6 to a tub each side of the sitting area . Roll on lovely scented warm summer evenings

New potatoes

I planted my seed potatoes today in both greenhouses .I planted Duke of York and Rocket. I am about a month later this year as I was afraid to plant just in case they got damaged by the frost.I need not have worried as I cleared the last of the kale from the beds I found several potatoes that had been missed.They had sprouted and have  3 or 4 leaves growing away strongly .I planted the seed potatoes  about four inches deep. I will soak the soil with water every day this week to make sure it is well wetted then I will cover them with about 6 inches of well rotted compost. With a bit of luck Sunday dinner in 12 weeks time will include lovely new potatoes fresh from the greenhouse The plan for next year will be to plant in January and cover with carpet and when the break the surface cover with fleece.Hopefully even earlier potatoes.


The peppers and chillies have all germinated and I will be pricking them out tomorrow into 3 inch pots. these will get put into the large propagator along with the tomatoes at about 18 degrees at night and in the daytime open with just bottom heat .

Bees flying on the 1st March

The bees were flying well today and yesterday. The hum was so lovely to hear after it being so quiet all winter. Such a comforting sound like the hum of a warm summers day.

Bee hive

I photographed this bee on one of the Hellebore flowers. If you look closely you can see the pollen baskets on her legs are full of pollen . This is a good sign it means that the hive this bee is from already has an egg laying  queen .

Honey Bee collecting pollen

This worker is collecting fresh pollen to feed the young larva . They are fed on both honey and pollen .the honey provides the carbohydrates and vitamins  while  the pollen provides the protein .

Bees going into hive

Unfortunately I have lost one hive it was small. I had split  the strongest hive in two and with the wet weather summer during the summer they just hadn’t become strong enough to get them through such a hard winter. Or maybe the Queen was just not fertile enough.

The worst isn’t over yet I will have to check them to see how much food they have left to get them through to the early summer so they don’t starve. 

Seedlings into pots

Today I pricked out my tomato seedlings into 3 inch pots .Varieties only three this year Moneymaker , Mr Stripy and Pearson . I bought  2 packets of seeds of Moneymaker the first one was Thompson and Morgan expensive and the second one was a cheep brand only 50pence from Netto .the cheep brand I only sowed less than half the packet this has produced 29 seedling .Thompson and Morgan packet has only produced 12 seedlings .

the Mr stripy seeds were also Thompson and Morgan germination very slow only one seedling. The  Pearson  seeds were seeds I had saved myself from plants grown in 2009

the germination on these were quicker and all 20 seeds sown germinated. In my opinion the big seed companies seed isn’t as fresh as it could be.

I also pricked out seedlings of Globe Artichoke I have never grown these before on fact I have never even tasted them, but always wanted to. I have never seen them for sale only on TV cookery programs, I hope I wont be disappointed.

The bulbs in the plant house are coming on in leaps and bounds and each day now is bringing something new . The perfume in the Plant House from the hyacinths is intoxicating especially first thing in the morning after the doors have been closed all night