Spring garden 2018

Yes, after all the colder weather of later winter and early spring, it's great to enjoy the sunshine days when they arrive. (Hugh, for the purposes of looking back in the future, we had ghastly weather at the start of March, with some more seasonal cold in mid March). 

And now, with the clocks changed to summer hours, it's gardening full steam ahead. 

For the purposes of this blog post I'm using the #six-on-Saturday meme format from Mr. Propagator. It's a nice format to use and follow for update blog posts like this. So let's get started. 

Sun hat getting an airing 

My first picture shows me out in the potager garden last week on spring equinox, when daylight officially becomes longer than the darkness of night. Always worth noting and appreciating. You can see the potager (or kitchen garden) coming along nicely in the background, although the fence to the left needs some attention after the high winds snapped a couple of posts. You also get a look at my sun hat, which has outings on good sunshine days. 

Narcissus 'Rip Van Winkle'

I also captured Spring Equinox and what's going on here on a wee YouTube video: https://youtu.be/LeiJF3SF_z4 

Next is the very striking Narcissus 'Rip Van Winkle'. Now you might know I'm not great on the daffodils, unless they're in vast swathes, however, after last spring I decided I do need to have more than just the odd bunch here or there. I did a bit of research and these beauties are one to have. Only 6 inches (15 cm) in height, they're ideal for tubs and containers and are reliable to flower from year to year with a little bit of care and attention. 

"This plant, like some others, is grown in a container allowing me to move it into a prime viewing location while it's at its best"

Unlike my non committal to daffodils, I love Tulips, which brings me to another picture, this time some Tulips just showing their flower buds. Now these have been in this container for about 5 years now, and every year without fail they put on a wonderful show. This is down to three things. Firstly I used soul (or soil ... Lol) from the garden to plant them, that was well enriched with organic matter. Secondly, as I grow salad crops in the container once the Tulips die back, I'm putting on a lovely top dress of fresh compost. Lastly, do you know now is the time to feed your Tulips for next years flowers? Use a half measure of standard liquid plant food once per week while they're growing. 

This same photo is also my fourth of six garden delights to share this week. Can you see those hairy looking buds? 

They are the 'soon to be' flowers of Magnolia stellata. The flowers themselves are white in colour and while the flowers will only last a couple of weeks, they are quite gorgeous. This plant, like some others, is grown in a container allowing me to move it into a prime viewing location while it's at its best, and then tucked away with others as it grows during the year. It is susceptible to the sea winds here so having it flower every year is a treat. 

While things are looking great in some parts of the garden, picture for number five shows that there are other areas that require attention. These plants are mostly my autumn display grasses, shrubs and flowers. As I was cleaning up earlier in the month I removed these from the display area with the intention of tidying them up to grow on for later this year. Now the weather has warmed a little, and more importantly the snow is gone, this has moved up the 'to do' list a couple of notches. 

And with said snowy and cold weather gone, our main batch of seed sowing is now only beginning here (I do have some early seed sown, but there is so much more to do). I'd say it's timely now to do, rather than late, although we are threading a fine line, particularly for the plants that require longer germination and growing on periods. I've some hardy annuals coming along, such as the germinating sweet pea pictured above, and over the coming week many more seeds will be sown, with a view to planting them out in 8 to 10 week's time, bringing us nicely to the middle / end of May, which should mean all signs of frosts at night are well gone, although one never knows ... 

 Anyway, as always, thanks for stopping by to see what's going on here. All the very best to you over these coming weeks and months, and do remember to have fun and enjoy yourself as the gardening year really has moved into top gear.

Happy gardening.