More radishes - no pics

The next day I harvested 3 even more plump radishes (they are not supposed to look spherical like ordinary supermarket globes, they are a cylindrical variety called French Breakfast (sic)), and since then I've had whole radishes (including leaves) in salad every day. There are still some growing, and today I sowed some more in the same planter, adding a little bit of potting compost. I think that I should start sowing a few seeds every week, as we really like them. Just - where? I used up all the litter trays, and there's hardly any space left on the patio table...

It's taking shape! :))

We spent most of the weekend planting and sowing. When I say planting, I mean my big strong man digging holes, and me filling them... It's suddenly so much easier to garden than on one's own!

The middle-of-the-grass border now has the witch hazel Jelena, golden sedge, helleborus Silvermoon, poppy Princes Victoria Louise, Japanese acer palmatum dissectum, rose Gertrude Jekyll, iris pallida variegata, pink anemone and furry salvia argentea:


Next to the fence we have buddleja Lochinch, echinacea purpurea, Mexican orange blossom and clematis Ville de Lyon:


Left side of the garage border has the foxgloves Giant Spotted, ajuga Braunhertz, hosta Fire and Ice, lady's mantle, rose Ferdinand Pichard and a pink geranium:


Finally, right hand side of the garage border shows the sweet bay, clematis Multi Blue, peony Sarah Bernhardt, rose Zephirine Drouhin, euonymus Harlequin, heuchera Rave On (for real!) and lavender:



Here are the ex-litter boxes which have now all been converted to planters. The one on the left has just been sown with leafy salad crops (clockwise from top left corner: mixed lettuce, rocket, pea shoots, spinach), the middle one is filled with purchased herbs, and the right hand one is the radish and kohlrabi box started about a month ago.


And here is our first harvest from it:

Front garden

Yes, it exists too.

At present, I'm not doing much (if any) work on it. It's quite a public space, unlike the secluded backyard paradise, and the previous owners of the house put in quite a bit more plants to show off to the neighbours I suppose ;). I want to see exactly what is there, and what will come up this spring and summer, before making any big changes. There are a couple of roses, some evergreen euonymus, a large hemisphere of a greyish plant that I still haven't identified (but am afraid will have yellow flowers in the summer) and several scented spring bulbs that are already on their way out: narcissi, daffodils and hyacinths.

One addition we made is buying a hanging basket. It was a bargain corner buy (from B&Q, of course, our stalwart supplier of all things gardening and DIY) costing £2. I added a couple of bright pink and purple primroses for winter cheer, and by now, two months later, the pansies have revived and burst into flower. Like this:

Sweet dream...

Or a beautiful nightmare? ;)

I think it's only fair to enlighten my faithful readers as to what exactly is my dream garden supposed to look like.

Some of the features I'd love include a pergola swathed in long, heady blooms of oriental wisteria; big terracotta pots proudly displaying evergreen orange, pomegranate and bay trees; an ornamental fountain or two; a fragrant bower full of roses, honeysuckles and jasmine; a native woodland edge, river bank and a jumbled mass of cottage garden flowers.

Ahem. Back to reality!

What I would really love in our little urban oasis is a place to sit in the sun and drink coffee, read or play with the kittehs. A sensual environment, with beautiful colours, sweet-smelling leaves and flowers, varied shapes and intriguing textures. A wildlife haven for butterflies, birds and - why not - bees. Somewhere to plant and pick our own, home-grown food. Maybe even a patio table and chairs, for entertainment purposes... Watch this space! :)

ETA: Sowed a dozen Sweet Pea seeds into newspaper pots today. They are called Albutt Blue, and are supposed to be large flowered and fragrant. In the picture they look whitish with a purple picotee edge - we'll see in a couple of months' time.

More updates

This is the box of radish and kohlrabi seedlings, sowed a few weeks ago:


Jerusalem artichokes have sprouted too (both pods look much the same at the moment):


Here's a bay laurel with a clematis behind it, against the garage wall at the far end of the garden:


In the corner are some foxgloves, which look like slugs or snails have been at them:


Finally, a look at some new acquisitions that are yet to be planted :):

Real first day of Spring!

Happened this Sunday. It was sunny and warm, we had a lovely walk and explored a new park, and later we ate in the garden and even had a little nap on the grass! If that kind of weather was due to the volcano ashes heating the atmosphere, bring the eruptions on! ;)

This is what my herb box looks like at the moment:


Aki hovering over me - in the background are some beautiful blue grape hyacints (Muscari) behind the young witch hazel "Jelena":


Heki because he's cute:

Easter Weekend

And it has been a busy one this year! In addition to colouring Easter eggs in onion skins, singing in the church choir and feasting with our big family, we did quite a few things in the garden.

As the roses I ordered from the David Austin website had arrived, I planted the three of them and the witch hazel on Friday. The soil in the garden is extremely sticky, with that much clay we could be throwing pots! It was very hard to dig, and I'm happy and grateful that my wonderful SO did the digging today! (He would have done it on Friday, but I didn't ask him to as he was putting up some IKEA furniture for the dining room.)

Today, we added some topsoil on the area where the borders are going to be, planted 3 lavenders, 3 foxgloves, 2 clematis(es?) and a bay tree. By the time we finished all of that (including putting up trellises and removing some gravel from the ground) it was 8 pm and too dark to take pictures. I will put them up as soon as I take some, although at the moment it still looks like bare, muddy soil with some twigs sticking out...

Oh, and Phil also made a trestle-leg garden table which currently holds the radish/kohlrabi planter, and a new one I made today with some special offer herbs from B&Q: 2 lemon thymes, 2 thymes, 1 sage, 1 cream variegated sage, 1 parsley and a lovely, sweet smelling marjoram.

And now, just for record keeping, I will list all the varieties planted this weekend (casual reader, stop reading now! ;))

Rosa 'Gertrude Jekyll'
Rosa 'Zephirine Drouhin'
Rosa 'Ferdinand Pilchard'
Hamamelis 'Jelena'
Clematis 'Multi Blue' (needs light pruning in early spring)
Clematis 'Ville de Lyon' (hard prune to 12" in early spring)
Digitalis 'Giant Spotted'
Laurus Nobilis (Sweet bay)
Lavender
and various herbs.