Saturday 31 May 2014

Meanwhile In The Garden ...

Good Morning!
Finally it is the weekend again and I wanted to share some photo's with you that I took earlier in the week. Now the weather has warmed up everything seems to be crying out for a photograph!

First up is the Orange Tree that I am currently looking after for my parents. I sowed it from seed when I was a child and they have kept it ever since, although it has never fruited, nor had a change of compost ... until now lol After re-potting into some fresh compost you can see that the tree is putting on lots of new leaf growth and since taking this photo I have moved it outside.


On Monday I pulled out some of the staging in the GH to make space and lined it up against the outside to display some plants and harden off the baskets.



On the same day I planted up a pot with a mix of Dianthus, Zinnia and Petunia's.



My Pelargonium 'Blanche Roche' has developed a lovely flower head.


The Pelargonium 'Bergpalais' has also started to bloom that I brought home a couple of weeks ago.


Pelargonium 'Tomcat' provides that flash of vibrant colour.


This week I also had my first proper harvest of the Radishes and Spring Onion that I sowed in the Raised Bed!



Finally I shall leave you with one of the Iris's I have in a larger pot that hadn't flowered until this week, I love the pale blue of this one.


Thanks for stopping by, enjoy your weekends!
HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Thursday 29 May 2014

A Summer Border ...

Good Morning!
Last weekend amongst the rain I managed to get my Summer border planted up at the front of the house. Usually you are meant to wait until the last week of May / first week of June to plant Summer bedding but I got impatient. It wasn't too far off anyway! 

So to start off I moved all the plants I needed so that they were ready, removed all the Primroses that were previously in the border and got a bag of compost ready for the planting. 


Before planting I positioned the plants first where I wanted them to go. I have used a combination of 'Yankee Doodle' Dahlia's and Antirrhinum's 'Day & Night'. I laid them out in a mix of the both.


When planting I added compost to each of the planting holes for every plant.


To finish the planting I added a top mulch over the complete border with the compost and watered in.


I repeated the planting in the back garden with my larger tuber Dahlia's. I have decided to position them in the border against the shed.



Before I go here's a few snaps of some plant closeup's I took the same day. Starting off with one of my Alliums 'Purple Sensation' ...


The border along the fence near the shed is full of blooms from the Geum's & Aquilega's.


The first Sweet Pea flower of 2014 has bloomed!


One of the Calendula 'Sunset Buff'' was starting to open ...


Finally the Hebe in the far corner has filled out and is showing it's blooms along with the Astrantia next to it which is putting on some growth!


Thanks for stopping by, I hope you are all still enjoying my blog.
HAPPY GROWING!
XXX

Monday 26 May 2014

Bit's & Bob's ...

Good Morning!
Today's post is a collection of photographs that I have taken over the past week that I wanted to share with you. There isn't a particular theme, they are just random snaps that I wanted to share with you all.

First up the Saxifraga 'Red' which has produced one beautiful little bloom.


Remember the Fuchsia cuttings that I took a few weeks ago? Well they all successfully rooted and it was time to pot them up into their own individual pots!




I also had 6 Lewisia plants that I couldn't decide what to do with so I potted them up and displayed them outside the GH.




Some seeds I sowed a fortnight ago (including some 'Cucamelon' last week) have all started germinating.


The Tomatoes are coming on leaps & bounds ...


The Sweet Pea's are getting stronger too, you can tell which are the Autumn ones compared to the Spring and I even have the first Sweet Pea bloom of 2014!



Finally the Amaryllis I bought back in the Autumn of last year decided to bloom for the second time last week and it was a joy to see!


Thanks for stopping by, I shall be back later in the week with how I have updated the front garden for Summer!
HAPPY GROWING!
XXX

Saturday 24 May 2014

A Little Bit Of Sunshine ...

Good Morning!
A little bit of sunshine goes a long way and judging from the past few days the plants have lapped it up! Although as you are reading this the weather has turned back to rain but atleast it gives everything a good water! 

Let's start off with the Patio table next to the Veg bed where I have arranged a selection of Nemesia & Diascia in the centre as a focal point.


We have also had our first harvest from the Veg Bed which is one of the Radishes! The Spring Onions don't look too far off either so hopefully we will have a few things to harvest this weekend.


The veg bed now has some netting over it (added since taking this photo) to help stop the birds pecking at the lettuce and the Alliums are still providing a great border.


Against the veg bed you can see the 'Abutilon' and the Iris's have finally flowered!




Last weekend I tidied up one side of the lawn by extending the beds a bit more which will be planted up with Annuals to fill the gaps. You can see the Geum's and Aquilega's are bursting with colour!


In the Greenhouse my Pelargoniums are starting to show their blooms ...



The 'Black Cherry' Petunia has also started coming into flower and I love the deep richness of the red.


Finally the Clematis at the front of the house we planted last year is still only very small but one of it's buds flowered this week and the 'Bee's Jubilee' is definitely the bee's knees!


Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a great weekend!
HAPPY GROWING!
XXX

Tuesday 20 May 2014

A Few Snaps ...

Good Morning!
Today I just wanted to share with you a few individual photo's that I took around the garden last week. First off is a close up of this beautiful moth I found hiding on a decoration in my conservatory ...


We also had a hungry visitor for a few days last week who rather enjoyed my Hollyhocks and a few Aquilega's! 


Thankfully some of my Hollyhocks have started coming back through but it wasn't all bad, as he left me a space to fill and I had a plant ready for just the thing! So I dug a hole ...


Added some Fish, Blood & Bone ...


Then planted a Perennial 'Scabious' which should have deep red rich flowers. I love the Pin cushion look these have and I can't wait to see it flower .... so long as Mr Rabbit keeps away!


I also transformed a shady spot of the garden by rounding off a corner and planting a potted Hellebore.



Here's a look at one of the Aquilega's that was lucky enough to avoid our hungry customer ...



Finally all the Alliums have burst into flower and I love the added height and interest they give to the veg bed!


Thanks for stopping by,
HAPPY GROWING!
XXX