Hyacinth "Delft Blue"

spring tulips

Here's a pretty mess

It's been a long cold lonely winter................................but it seems that the spring is here at last. It's been far too cold to do any work in the garden at all, until now..........but everything has suddenly burst into life so it's time for the post-winter tidy, and to see what has survived. A few pots have cracked..................the cuttings in the greenhouse died.............and it looks as though the prostrate rosemary may not have made it................but remarkably most other things seem OK and are beginning to resurface. The spring bulbs are as usual looking extremely pretty.......................I've moved the Braeburn apple out of its pot and into the ground, and split the mystery day lily. The cold frame has gone to a good home via Frecycle, Carrie has cleaned out the greenhouse (aka winter cat toilet...........), and I have harvested last year's crop of tiny carrots. Veg seeds are on order......................houseplants have had a titivate and a few gone to the compost to be recycled into next year's veg. We have rosary vines like other people have mice, I took loads of cuttings for the OSP sale, not expecting them to take, but they all did so I have lots of extra peace lilies and Christmas cacti..................I'm going to try some tomatoes indoors this year, they did so badly last year both inside and outside because there wasn't enough sun to ripen them. I wonder if the morning glory will come back......................it had loads of seeds so I've just buried them all and watered it and we'll see if anything happens.................

winter-hardy vegetable....................

Hebe

frozen in thyme..................

REALLY cold frame....................

snow up to the oxters is no fun..........................but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.............

and whose are these sweet little pawprints?...............

our beautiful apples........................tasted great too.............. !

Japanese maple in all its autumn splendour.................

dew on the love-in-a-mist

taken in misty autumn.......................

Frozen veg

In the bleak midwinter..................some things are still valiantly alive. the chard and broccoli are stiff with frost but hanging in there...........the pond is frozen solid and Carrie is defrosting the bird bath every day. more is forecast.............we've had the first white Christmas for many years, and the cats object greatly to having to use an outside toilet in such cold weather..................

Autumn planting

I have just cleared away the runner bean plants, bolted chard and some of the squash plants. The broad beans I sowed about 4 weeks ago are 6 inches high and now in the bed.

Cut the lawn for the final time this year. Wanted to make final installment of compost but beaten by dusk.. composting as been this years thrilling development, my hottest hot heap went up to 55 deg C.. fantastic.

bye-bye annuals. it always feels a bit sad to pull things up especially when there are still a few flowers..............but it means we can see the sedums, and make room for the wallflowers..............

interesting to compare the actual flower with the picture on the packet, it's much more pink...............was also supposed to flower in the summer but i did put them in quite late i think. it's called "Dizzy"!...............

mega sunflower head, destined to be bird food........................

geranium cuttings in the greenhouse

Autumn trim

September has been very warm and dry so rather than the garden going to bed, it's woken up again and all sorts of things that didn't do much in the spring are flowering now. the rescue rose and yellow rose not of Texas are both laden with flowers, as is the purple clematis and the Cystis. however...........it is time to do a little tidying up. so Carrie has been working on her beloved compost heap, and i've given the Persicaria its winter haircut and taken some cuttings, as well as some of the lemon balm and the geraniums. tender basils now indoors............Georgia Blue rescued from its tub into a pot. more salads planted in the greenhouse..............we still have rocket, corn salad, bull's blood and leaf beet outside but we wanted some more started for over the winter. annuals are out and wallflowers are in...............catmint trimmed and the passion flower retrieved from its hiding-place behind the fennel..............
empty seed packets tell the tale of what worked and what didn't.......................after much labour the Chinese forget-me-not produced ONE flower, the godetias were also much weaker than last year but the cornflowers did brilliantly again. the dahlia "My Love" is flowering really nicely, and the cerinthe also a great success. courgettes almost finished, tomatoes have been very slow but ripening at last....................strange, because it was a much warmer summer but the outdoor ones did almost nothing. runner beans very successful, the mini-carrots and beetroot too..................have just picked another lot of blueberries, and we have three different kinds of apples ready to eat!.....................