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

A Re-Shuffle ...

Good Morning!

As you can guess from the title I have given the Greenhouse a bit of a re-shuffle! Typical just after I had shared photo's with you all of how it was looking last week lol The reason behind the re-shuffle was to fit the Tomatoes in better that have come on leaps and bounds. Even as you are reading this I am needing to try make even more space as my TomTato's arrived yesterday!

Okay so as you can see I have doubled up part of my staging near the door to make space for my Pelargoniums & Dahlias and my planted up Hanging Baskets.

Towards the back of the GH I have moved my Cucumber & Pepper Plants along with another Tomato in the middle but this is a bush variety that will go outside after the frost risk has gone.

Lastly here you can see the left side of the Greenhouse that has been taken over by Tomato Plants! From left to right you can see Sungold, Alicante, Golden Sunshine, Tom Cherry & Roma. The ones without the bamboo canes have smaller canes as they are bush varieties. I place them on trays full of gravel which I keep topped up with water just in-line with the surface to help keep on top of watering.

You can't see them very well but here are the TomTato Plants!

Thanks for stopping by,

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Hanging Baskets ...

Good Morning!

Today's post is all about Hanging Baskets! Now it is a bit early to be putting Hanging Baskets out just yet, there's still a risk of frost so it is best not to put them out or any bedding plants until the end of May / first week of June. 

However now is the perfect time to get your Summer Hanging Baskets planted up! By keeping them undercover in your GH for the next couple of weeks it gives them a chance to fill out and become more established before being planted out. Resulting in them looking even better when they are on show!

First off I still have my Spring Baskets out so I collected some extras for planting up, it's always good to have some spares ;) Before filling make sure your baskets are free from any old plant waste and have drainage holes. You may need to stab a few holes through the liner yourself so it's always good to give them a good check.

It is always a good idea to add some slow release plant food to your baskets. There are a variety of different brands and types out there but this year I have decided to try 'Incredibloom' by Thompson&Morgan.

With my baskets I always like to add 3 basket plants which fill it up nicely. It may not look like it when you first plant them up but they do fill out. 

You can also add some 'filler' plants which are bedding plants perfect for going in between the larger plants, such as Lobelia which I have used here. In this basket you can see a Petunia, Nepeta and Calibrachoa. I repeated each basket design twice so that I would always have a corresponding design.

I also decided to keep some of my baskets without a bedding filler and all the one variety but different colours. For example this basket includes Petunias, one of which is 'Lime Green' and the two others are 'Black Cherry'.

In this basket I have included a Fuschia 'Trudi Davro', Petunia 'Black Cherry' and Bacopa 'Blue'.

This basket is smaller than the others so has a single Surfinia 'Melissa' inside.

Lastly I planted up one of my Summer Containers with Helychrysum 'Gold', Calibrachoa 'Fuschia' and Petunia 'Sunshine'. There is also another Lobelia in this design which is hiding around the back!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope I have helped give you all some ideas!

HAPPY GROWING!
XXX

In the Greenhouse ...

Good Morning!

It's been a while since I last shared an update on how the GH is looking inside so I thought now was the time to do it. All the bedding is coming along nicely and as you will be able to see it is itching to go out!

First up is a selection of Tagetes & Marigolds that were ready to go into the pots with my Tomatoes. 

You will see that some Tomatoes have bamboo canes to support them, these are the taller varieties and the ones without are of bush varieties. Don't forget there are still 3 more plants to come (TomTato) but as you can see that's not too bad a thing as I don't really have any free space! lol

I always plant 3 plants per pot but it is up to you how many you do, if you do so at all, as some people prefer to keep them in separate pots next to each other.

On top of my Work Bench you can see the 'Abutilon' that was previously sat on the floor has now been raised up and has quite a few 'lanterns' developing. This plant will go outside against a wall once there is no risk of frost.

The lanterns form a lower yellow half with another purple part forming just beneath. They are certainly a treat to look at and aren't something you usually expect to see!

Back to the sides of the GH and as you can see as I said before everything is coming on nicely! From the top shelf down you can Petunias, Dahlias & Ranunculus - Picotee Pink.

Mixed Bedding.

Field Maple, Basket Plants, Cuttings, Cucumber - Gherkin & Pepper & Mimulus.

Basket Plants, Marigolds & Dahlia's - 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' although a pesky slug enjoyed a nibble on these earlier in the week!

Pelargoniums & more Bedding Plants including a cheeky Cosmos that is already flowering! You can also spot 2 more Tomato Plants that are waiting to be potted up and given away.

 

And lastly outside the GH are some recycled plastic drums that were planted up with leftover Winter Bedding last year and are still happily blooming away!

Thanks for stopping by,

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, I hope the weather is better with you than it is here!

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

A Few Snaps ...

Good Morning!

Today's post is just to share a few more random snaps from around the garden. 

First up is a selection of Tulips at the front of the house which are one of the very few things that were here before we moved in.

The Clematis at the front of the house has been given some support and a little mulch. The ivy next to it needs taking out but it's going to be quite a task!

Remember the tiny Petunia plug plants I got from Thompson&Morgan a couple of months ago? Well they've come on nicely and were ready to be potted on this week!

Yet more Tomato Plants were ready to be potted up so as you can guess space is getting tight in the GH.

Lastly I wanted to share a photo of the pink Lily of the Valley that I have, it's always best to keep these in containers and how could you not like the dainty little blooms?

I hope you all enjoy your weekends!

Thanks for stopping by,

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

New Arrivals ...

Good Morning!

There has been some more new arrivals this week in the GH and not just the leftovers that I've saved from work! Another part of my Thompson&Morgan order was waiting for me when I got home home on Thursday and this time it was some 'Lisianthus' plug plants! As you can see the blooms are rose like which is what drew me to them in the first place.

As explained in a previous post I made sure I pricked them out right away to give them the best chance of success!

The other new arrival which arrived on the same day was the pair of Secateurs I won with my photograph. It was definitely worthwhile sending it in don't you think!

You may also have predicted that I did indeed bring home some more seedlings from work, including some Lobelia, Petunia's and Mimulus. I need to make sure that I don't bring home anymore unless absolutely needed as I don't really have the space! lol

Also do you remember those little Cornflower seedlings? Well this is how they are looking now!

I hope you all have a good weekend planned.

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX