Garden Checklist ...

Good Morning!
Here's a few things that you can be getting on with in the garden over the coming week ...

1. Borders  -If your borders are showing a few gaps due to plants that haven't survived the winter, now is a good time to fill the gaps! As long as the ground isn't frozen you could fill the space with plants such as Hellebores or Snowdrops which have been divided into smaller clumps. 

2. Tomato Seedlings - If you have sown Tomato seeds and they have reached a height of around 2.5cm it's time to pot them on. When doing this make sure you hold the leaf, not the stem. Pot the seedlings into small pots such as 7.5cm and bury the whole of the stem.

3. Feed - Carrying on from the first tip mentioning borders now is also a good time to give your plants situated there a good feed.Sprinkle some Fish, Blood & Bone feed onto the ground and work into the soil. A mulch will also help improve your soil but make sure you add it when the ground is moist and not dry. 

4. Summer Flowering Clematis - Prune any Summer Flowering Clematis, cutting back to a pair of healthy buds. It will also soon be time to prune any early flowering Clematis as the best time to do this is after they have finished flowering. 

5. Roses - If you haven't done so already it's time to finish pruning roses over the start of this month. 

Thanks for stopping by, don't forget you can find all the previous Checklists on the page tab above.

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Garden Checklist ...

Good Morning!
Here are a few things you can be getting on with over the next week in your garden.

1. Stray Seedlings - If you have spotted any rogue seedlings growing in places that aren't ideal, such as a drive way, you can dig them up and put into a more suitable place or pots until you can find somewhere.
For example I saw that there are some Verbascum seedlings growing on my drive that need relocating.

2. Plant Support  - If you have some supports outside that you are wanting to keep in place over winter it's a good idea to check that they are secure and in good condition before they get damaged by bad weather. We've had some windy days here this last week and these can cause havoc if anything isn't in place properly.

3. Transplant / Plant - I had some Geums growing in Teracotta pots that can't stay outside over winter as they aren't frost proof. This gave me the chance to re-jig my borders and take out some plants that I wasn't overly happy with and replaced them with the Geums.
The soil is still warm enough at the moment for you to do this yourself. 

• Always make sure that you tease the roots out if they have become root bound and that you have given the plant a good water so that the root ball isn't dry before planting.
• Firm in plants once they are in the ground, you can use your boots to ensure this is done properly.
• Make sure you give the plant a really good water when you have finished, even if it's raining! I always give each plant a full watering can of water when I plant them into the ground.

4. Planning - If you've sorted through your seed packets as I suggested recently then you'll probably also be starting to think ahead to next year. Have a think about what you want to grow and start stocking up on the seeds you will need. 

I've started to write a list of the Salad Crops that I want to grow and added them to my wish list!

Thanks for stopping by, don't forget you can find all the previous Checklists on the page tab above.

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Make A Feature ...

Good Morning!

Today I thought I'd share a few little jobs that I did this week and so could you. 

First up I wanted to make a little feature, nothing too fancy or fussy, just something to fill the gap where the patio table goes in summer otherwise I'm left with a massive empty space of patio! All I did was have a re-shuffle of some outdoor pots and placed some of various sizes in the spot. I will most likely change around what's here but for an instant effect it works well.

You can also spot a new addition which I couldn't resist on a Clearance table at the Garden Centre last week. It is called 'Salvia - Royal Bumble' it's hardy and has lovely flowers, although in windy weather they aren't the easiest to photograph! lol

I also treated myself to this 'Echeveria - Lilacina' which is a lovely shade of grey with a pink tint.

This week I also planted out the rest of my Autumn / Winter Bedding which includes trailing Viola's ...

Primroses & Bellis were also planted in my side border along with a couple of left over Wallflowers and the border was also given a mulch of compost.

More bedding was used around the edge of the Raised Bed just to help it to not look too bare.

TIP - As you can see here you don't have to always hang Hanging Baskets up. They make great containers too!

Thanks for stopping by,

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Getting Ready For Winter ...

Good Morning!

Okay so maybe the title is a little bit more alarming than it should be! 

Earlier this week I dug up the Dahlia's and Antirrhinum's from the front border as they were looking a bit tired and I wanted to get the Winter Bedding in whilst the ground was still warm to give them a good start.

However there was 1 or 2 Dahlia's that were still looking okay so I popped them into some pots and lined them along the front of the house.

Once all the plants had been pulled out and any debris picked up I gave the ground a quick turn over ready for the new residents!

As always I like to position the plants where they are to go before planting. 

As you can see here at the back of the border will be some Wallflowers and I also planted some dwarf Narcissus bulbs at the same time which will hopefully come up next spring.

These have been joined by a row of Bellis- 'Pomponette' in the middle and some 'Primrose - Rosebud' at the front! I then added a mulch of compost over the top to add some extra nutrients to the soil and also give a neat finishing touch!

Thanks for stopping by,

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Blooms, Blooms, Blooms ...

Good Morning!

I added a Hardy Fuschia to the main border in the back garden earlier this week. I know your all thinking how on earth did I manage that considering how full my garden is already! Well I simply replaced another plant which was moved to the part of the garden behind the GH. Where there's a will there's a way! 

The Hardy Fuschia is the variety 'Hawkshead' and with it's beautiful white flowers it brightens up the space it's in. It's a great contrast to my other Hardy Fuschia which has striking red & purple flowers!

When planting in the border I always incorporate compost and some fish, blood & bone into the planting hole to give it a head start.

I then filled the hole back up with fresh compost and gave it a good soak!

In the same border the Astrantia's are flowering and with their dainty blooms I couldn't resist sharing them with you. These are perfect for Woodland areas or shade as they do well in those tricky areas.

TIP - If you haven't already started it's time to start cutting your Sweet Peas! I know you may be thinking that you don't want to but not only do they look lovely in a vase and fill your house with their perfume, but it helps promote more flowers on the plant so it's a win win situation!

Lastly another Rose in my garden bloomed this week and this one is called 'Champagne Moment'.
Me and Andy bought it last year and seeing that was the year we got engaged it's sentimental.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all have a lovely weekend!
HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

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

A Spring Spruce Up, Part 2!

Good Morning!

As promised I'm back again today with what else I got up to during  my Spring Spruce up! As well as embellishing the front garden a little bit I went over a few bits in the back. Such as the large pot at the side of my Greenhouse that held my Sweet Pea wigwam last Summer and some Pansies during the Winter ...

I used an assortment of Primroses, Tulips and Crocus's. 

Placing the Tulips & Crocus's in the centre and the Primroses circling them.

I also gave some pots a spruce up by replacing the tired pansies with some Primroses.

I decided to give my side border a little tidy up too. The border is rather narrow and was filled with stones when we moved in this time last year. It seemed a waste to leave it like that so I added some soil and plants in the hope that one day it'l be a bit nicer to look at! 

As you can predict I added some Primroses and a little cluster of Crocus's to the border along with clearing out some leaves and weeds. I would have added more Primroses but by this time I was running low! To finish it off I added a mulch of Composted Bark as I had half a bag going spare.

Seeing as I was on a bit of a mission I added some left-over Primroses to another border that hosted my Dahlia's last Summer. If I had known I would have been going to do this I would have bought some another pack! You will see in the photo that I do have a handful left but I decided to save them in case I have any last minute ideas.

Before I go I thought I'd share a little update on the seeds in the Greenhouse. As you can see the Dahlia, Sweet Pea & Comsos seedlings are getting stronger.

For those of you who may have noticed that the fences are different colours, I am planning on painting them all and the shed in deep oak brown when the weather improves!

 I hope I haven't bombarded you with too many photo's over the past two days. 

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX