It's all happening now!

It's been crazily busy here over the last week or so. I decided to get all the 'boring' jobs out of the way early in the year so I could spend the latter months doing the things I really enjoy, like planting, sowing seeds and taking cuttings, as well as just sitting and admiring the garden when everything is in bloom. So, I've painted trellises and fence panels, scrubbed a zillion pots, had a shed revamp, re-lined the fish pond and generally worked...

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I'm a sucker for a strawberry!

I really am! I love them so much, I've ended up with 6 large beds full that edge my patio. Up until this spring, they were wonderfully healthy and provided me with masses of beautiful fresh tasting fruit.  I noticed this year that a few of the beds didn't look that great (the above one is doing well though). I thought the terrible winter may have had something to do with it, and ordered some new varieties to fill in the gaps. I have Elegance,...

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Wildlife Ponds

Anyone who knows me will be fully aware of my fascination with the wildlife in my garden. I think my family are somewhat immune to my rantings about what creature I've found while out there now, but others find it amusing when I rave about the teeniest frog I've just seen, or the stag beetles I've witnessed dancing on the water. My main focus for wildlife are the little ponds dotted around my garden. I started off with one, added another three,...

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It's all about the seedlings.

They're everywhere at the moment! Now the warmer spring days are finally here, my outdoor sowings are starting to appear. Radishes, Night Scented Stock, Rocket, Cut and Come Again Salad and Cornflowers are all flourishing. And indoors, Chillies, Tomatoes, Basil, Sunflowers and Alpine Strawberries are all doing well. Only one casualty of my indoor sowing, and that's the Just Peachy Nasturtiums. Only 3 of the seeds germinated, and even...

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Dig, plant, sow, repeat.

It feels like all the gardening jobs have hit me at once this week. Not only do I have my own garden to care for, but I also designed and manage my parents garden, so it's been all systems go with many more seeds to sow, new plants to find space for, ponds to clear and patios to jetwash.  My back wasn't thanking me yesterday after a whole day of weeding, digging and planting in my parents garden, only to come back and start digging and planting...

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Working 9 to 5

Or, 8.30am to 5.00pm to be precise. Well, the weather was fine again, wet due to the overnight rain, but mild, so I decided to crack on with more of the jobs that needed tackling. I had a few plants in pots and throughout the garden that were in desperate need of dividing. The hosta above was just starting to send up shoots, so it was the perfect time to give it a good chop in half. In fact, I got 3 good bits from this, a couple of which...

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