Flower colours

 I spent £5 on these tulips, I rarely get cut flowers, I never cut flowers from my garden, these are colourful and brighten our sitting room. My two pots of tulips are starting to bloom, can't wait, I chose some bright colours this year. 

A few of my other flowers around the garden.

The big acer came to life in these warm sunny days, soon all the leaves will fill out. My trio kept at the back of the garden, 2 are coming back to full leaf, the red leaf is a bit behind.

The garden is already looking good, we sit outside most days, both hubby and I can find a few bits to do, before enjoying the sunny weather. Our magnolia tree is still barren, we haven't had many blooms, leaves are beginning to form, hopefully soon it will look less bare, we are not surprised, as it has been cut back hard before.

I love to see so many different colours in my flower beds, it does feel as if the growing season has arrived, but I'm wary as night time temperatures are still a bit low, my greenhouse is still full. I potted up my spare strawberry plants into a nice tall pot, I have put them in a sunny spot, these should give us a slightly earlier harvest. I have ordered some small bags to pop over the fruit as they form, rather than making a net frame for the strawberry tower, it should make harvesting much easier.

Monday after doing the downstairs housework, which was overdue, I spent the afternoon in the garden, Lilly was close by all day. On Sunday she got stuck in our nice neighbours garden, Pauline had a cuddle before handing her back, Lilly is climbing our magnolia tree all the time, a couple times she has landed awkward, I'm hoping she will learn a lesson and stop climbing, she is still not happy using the cat flap, so we are keeping her in over night.

Tuesday was a cloudy day, not so warm, I spent a good hour in the greenhouse, I also dug up two roots from flowering plants in my garden to make new plants, I have loads of new plants coming along. We popped to Lidl for a small shop, mainly salad, fresh fruit and veg, our bill just over £70, are prices ever going to settle down, everything has gone crazy. 

Sunny weekend

 Friday morning we took the express bus into Portsmouth going to the south of the city, here is Gunwharf Quays, it's a mixture of outlet stores and food venues, we have been here often before. Being on the waters edge on a hot day is perfection, you can see through the natural harbour mouth to Isle of Wright and beyond.

Sitting in the warm sun under The Spinnaker Tower looking out over the water was bliss, not too busy, just how we like it, hubby got his new trainers and used his Blue Light card for discount, we were told many shops there take the card, nice surprise. We do love wondering around these bigger shops.

Saturday I had George for a couple of hours, Molly had a party to attend, Will was with Grandma and Grandpa, after a couple of hours mummy and Molly came here, Molly stayed for a sleep over, giving mummy and George time together, they went to the beach. We spend most of the day outside in the beautiful sunshine, our second day at 20⁰, I even wore sandals and shorts, first time this year.

Sunday was an early start as expected, Molly never sleeps in late, the day was cooler, still perfect sunny day, we got the laundry done and dried, we ate lunch in the garden, listening to the birdsong and watching Lilly run around. After I took Molly home we had a quiet afternoon, Molly is a chatterbox, so it was quiet, relaxing time, listening to our neighbours music, they had a BBQ, we decided not to walk to their house.

Hubby was out all day Saturday, I choose not to go anywhere, on a sunny days there is no place better than my own garden, both children love playing outside, it's all now on one level, perfect for scooters and football. I did water everywhere again, this time using the hose, I did read our water levels are OK here in the south, after such a wet winter, we don't have a water meter, we looked into it and generally we would not save much, if I factor in watering the garden as well, I think we are better off with general bills.

We had rhubarb and apple crumble with custard, I pulled my first harvest on Saturday, I used some Braeburn apples we already had, hubby put oats in the crumble, it was lovely and worth the wait for our first harvest. We both had an early night on Sunday, grandchildren wear us out.

I had a sort out of my gardening bits over the weekend, George's school has just had raised beds made, they were asking for anything to help start a garden club, I had seed trays with clear covers, some plastic hand tools and more seeds. Daughter was happy to take them, I have asked for a contact number, I have some raspberry and strawberry plants they can have. It's so pleasing when schools create gardens, I love it here when the children pick my ripe fruit to eat.

Going green

 I have two huge pots of tulips, I watch them everyday as I'm in the garden, I have popped a support ring in the back pot, soon these lovelies will open. The large snowdrops in my cider pot have bloomed so well, the tulips came up blind, so I have cut back their leaves, I also have a fleabane daisy in this pot.

Sadly most of my spring bulbs have finished flowering, it's always a shame, this year the beds have been full, the narcissus are now blooming here. I don't grow tulips in the ground as those which are not dug up by squirrels and rats tend to rot in our clay soil. 

My side bed is just leaves, there are bluebells growing through the leaves, I don't mind this bed at this time of year, these leaves are storing all the goodness back into the bulbs for next year, I don't dig up my spring bulbs. I always cut off the dead heads so they won't make seeds, which can weaken the bulb.

I added two small pots of snakes-head fritillary, just to give the feel the pond has been here longer, I drained some of the water and cleared out some of the slimy weed, it's been topped back up with rainwater and looking much better. 

Just late spring bits coming through in the flower beds, I can see loads of plants purchased last year returning, which is brilliant, I can't see me having too many bare spots this summer, I am finding it hard as I see so many lovely plants and I really do not have room for them, I have promised hubby after reducing the number of pots I have I would not purchase anymore. 

The veg beds are doing well, I soaked my peas and have sown them into their final spot, for now I have popped a cover over them. We pulled our first harvest of rhubarb, which we added apple and made a crumble, served with custard.

I have watered my pots again and the veg beds, it's very dry here, sunny windy days steal moisture. My cucumber plants are huge, my tomato plants are smaller but strong, I have not lost too many, it's a much better start to the growing season.

Gone to seed

It's a busy time in the greenhouse, here I have loads of seedlings, mainly flowers, plus a few cucumber and tomatoes. I have started the task of potting induvial seedlings, I will only sort as many as I need, the rest I will spread out in the seed tray and once they have grown some more I will offer them to neighbours. 

On the small greenhouse shelves I have more plants in individual pots of various sizes, most of these are flowers, some are small purchased plants I have grown on, again I have more than I need, I'm aware I can easily loose a few at any point.

 

One side of my raised veg beds is now a cold frame, these plants don't need to be under glass, most of these I have raised myself from cuttings, under the plastic domes are my cabbage plants, I have 7, 3 did not make it, these are all looking good after moving them. They are under my netting.

This is my newly created salad bed, it has a cover to keep Lilly off, I have various seeds in here, there is also a perspex cover which I pop on over night. It's working well, the mixed leaf salad has healthy growth, I can also see spring onions and radishes coming up.

Each day this week I have spent an hour outside, getting little bits done, most of the time inside the greenhouse, I should have plenty of strong flower plants. Our local pet shop has their flower strips back in, 4 or 5 plants for £1.49, this year I only purchased 2 packs, I have most of what I require.

My greenhouse is a busy spot, it's always full at this time of year, I do love to spend time inside, the joy of seeds growing into healthy plants always gives me great pleasure, I have opened the door every day, my window has an automatic opener, it's in the sunniest spot in the garden. I have very little to do elsewhere in the garden, just a bit of weeding and dead heading my daffodils, I'm waiting for my tulips to open, in hope I have the blooms I'm expecting.

Lilly is very happy we took her onesie off on Thursday, in hope she would leave her wound alone, after a long session of grooming where I watched her, she is not bother by her scar, it's the next step in her recovery. If all goes well we are thinking of letting her outside on Saturday, after 14 days locked inside. 

We both had dentist this week, no problems for either of us, we then popped to B&Q, hubby had a few things to get, I got another calendula, I love the orange flowers, we got a few different bags of compost, all Westland brand, I don't ever purchase Verve as I have had poor results before.

It's a big one

This post is my 2500 post, I started back in February 2009, I'm in my 16th year of blogging, I have never posted everyday, on average every 2 or 3 days, I can't call many post exciting for anyone reading, some have been very exciting for me. I publish each year into a book, which I do love to look back on, with or without the grandchildren. Thank you for being here, remember as much as I love to post, I get so much enjoyment from popping over to visit each of you. 

This is our weather for this week, for the first week in April not unusual, it is wonderful to wake up with blue skies every morning, we have just had a very dry March, so I am worried, we do need rain, my garden water buts are all low, I am using them for my pots, I will run out of stored rainwater soon.

We got Lilly a small sized onesie and she is much happier, the vet is very pleased with her, all we have to do now is keep her inside for a week longer, which she is still not happy about.

 Not an original plot, which did not put me off, you wake up every morning with no memories, how can this be different, as usual a great twist near the end. Book 34 read this year.

Another new author to me, it's a modern style of book, these for me can be hit or miss, whilst the story was good, I did not fully enjoy this book, I knew it was going to be tongue in cheek, in this case a bit too far fetched for me. Book 35 read this year.

Another great read, this author knows how to twist a plot and throw in unexpected people, I did not see the end at all. Book 36 read this year.

Daughter went to parents evening at George's school, his teacher was very pleased with his progress, daughter saw his handwriting, and last week at home he read his first book to me. All much more than we expected, his teacher said he is determined to learn the same as his classmates, super news.

The sown flower seeds in my greenhouse are now tiny seedlings, I have far more than I need, it's a shame my sister lives so far away, I will pot on loads, but not all, so far I will have snapdragons, asters, zinnias and french marigolds, which should fill any gaps in our small flower beds.

I have been sorting my raised veg beds, when checking I realized it's not great to have runner beans next to onions as I had planned, the onions steal all the nutrients the beans require, so a quick rejig, I have transplanted the cabbage plants next to the onions, they had only been in the ground for a week and will work well together, there is enough room for me to place peas at the other end of the bed. Once the broads beans are finished I can plant the runner beans, which is not perfect, but I will add to the soil before putting the runner beans in.