March 2013

I am so thrilled with my Hellebore Collection some I have bought as  plants some I bought in the bargain section of the garden centre last year and others are self sown seedlings just love their beautiful colours

Sping marches on

Turned the old hens onto the potato patch ,hopefully they will eat the weeds and any slugs snails and any  nasty insects they find.leaving it all clear for me to turn over  ready for planting the main crop potatoes

I bought this Hellebore for myself last week the bud was tightly closed . It seems to be a nice double white .

 Unfortunately this is what it should have been. Petrol to return it would cost me five pounds.So it looks like I'll just keep it .and maybe buy another one next time we are over that way.

The Stevia plants have made it through the winter I am hoping to take cuttings a bit later on . I am so pleased they are now selling Stevia in the supermarket as a sugar alternative but its very expensive. The dried leaves work a treat for cooking and sweetening stewed fruit

The tomatoes have germinated already so the race is now on to get the main greenhouse ready in time to plant them in a few weeks time

 Spring is marching on the bulbs in the plant house are starting to flower .The tomatoes have been sown along with Salad and Vegetables.

I went to garden centre yesterday and saw Primrose Vulgaris priced at #3.99 for a small pot . I came home and pricked out a further 22 tiny seedlings .


The Hellebores are coming into flower beautifully I treated myself to a double one at the garden centre yesterday will post it when it opens its buds.

Mid February

 The seed potatoes have arrived and are already chitting .There are two varieties Rocket and Sarpo Mira . The earlies are Rocket, these are soon to be planted in the greenhouse to ensure we have nice early potatoes.The main crop are Sarpo Mira these are a super potato and my all time favourite .They have a wonderful flavour and they are an all round cooking potato .They steam, mash ,bake and roast  really well, but their main attribute is that they are blight resistant so no spraying is needed at all . I can't recommend these high enough as an easy potato to grow that crops well .

These little seedlings  of Lilium Martagon have finally appeared after being sown 12 months ago.  Only 3 have come through so far out of about 10 seeds a lot of TLC needed yet .

 Assorted Cauliflowers have germinated and are about  to be pricked out into individual pots so they will be ready to plant out in the garden as soon as the weather warms up a bit.

 I accidentally  spilt some salad herbs on the potting bench last autumn just before I planted my spring bulbs . My Hyacinths are coming on well in this trough but I also have a free crop of salad herbs to pick . 

3 pots of Hyacinths starting into flower the Plant House will soon be filled with their delicious  perfume 

 The Hellebores are starting into flower just 2 so far, the yellow and the white with pink spots ,I don't have variety names  for them 

The clumps of Snowdrops are looking so beautiful .I moved a lot of them into the meadow last year I will thin these out to fill up the border 

I pruned all the Camellia bushes quite hard last year they have even more buds and flowers than before

This one usually flowers last but its one of the first this year

This was a pot of Polyanthus I bought last year and planted it out into the garden when it was over

This was an impulse buy when shopping on Tuesday it will cheer me up in the plant house until the bulbs come up . They have been re-potted  so lots of room to produce bigger plants

The table of assorted bulbs just waiting for the spring

January Evening Sky

 Well what a strange start to the year .The flowers in bloom in the garden reflect the odd start to the year, Currently I have pink flowered Strawberries, Sage. Snowdrops and Hellebores.

Broken Cordyline

 The strong winds and gales Snapped my Cordyline in half , but hopefully it will recover from halfway up the trunk.

Hellebore

Sage

Snowdrops

We have a new rat proof hen pen but still having endless battle with the nasty critters.

No sooner do I seem to be getting on top of them  ,but new ones move in.

Pink flowered Strawberry

I have lots of plans for the garden this year , back to basic vegetables with tried and true favorites.

Lots of bulbs planted in Planthouse for early flowering to cheer me up on dark rainy dull days.

The Bully

I hope to have lots of interesting photos and items to share  .I hope you will return form time to time to see how I am progressing ,you will be most welcome.

Magnificent crazy Lilies

This one has 37 flowers and buds

My Lilies have gone crazy this year the only thing I have done different is they had a much of compost last Autumn and a 3inch bark mulch in the spring. these are the biggest two. The flowers are normal size about 5 to 6 inches across but each is like a huge bouquet this one has 37 buds  and flowers and the pink has 40 buds the average on the other lilies is over 20 to each stem .I surpose next year there will be little or nothing from them as they must be exausted

This is how it looked in 2010

I got these  from Parkers Bulbs in a bargain pack of 25 bulbs three years ago the first year they only produced weedy stems last year about 6 or 7 flowers on each now this year just crazy flowers. Oh I forgot to mention the perfume well there are over 50 of these so you can imagine

This is how it looks this year with 40 buds