That’s Using Your (Axe) Head

Cleaned the window and made it seem like a portal to a greener world.

Remember a clown sans make-up is just a guy.

Baby saskatoon bushes appearing.

Snowball tree and blue skies.

Aquilegias is everywhere, one may be a cross between the dark purple and the pink.

Rough start, but getting there.

Removed some sycamores, they get too big too fast, and too away the plant as it had loosened, the wall beneath is rough and has a big drop. Next I make a few more of the older ornaments to fill it in.

Hand worked, likely because it was an XL glove, just enough thickness in the fingers to stop them breaking.

Yo, Dear Reader, the heat has been sticking around thankfully, though it is taking a greater toll than usual, after nearly nine months of cold and rain it’s a big change. I’m taking advantage, sunscreen and hydrated and out as much as possible, things are slow, but likely less so than they feel. It’s easy to give into feelings of despair when the weather has changed so drastically and will continue to. Mostly I’m just trying to change what I grow and how as best I can to compensate. It’s funny how more heat seemed to be thee idea and instead we just got wetter in the worst way. I’ll keep at it, Dear Reader, no matter what I’m not giving in.

Rainbow is big, really big.

Tied up the clematis, plastic hands that were in there have been mounted to the wall, that lavender is so fragrant.

Potatoes are growing faster.

Nope, never not funny.

Orange shades in Summer are lovely.

Tayberries are really flowering heavily this year.

Baby apples.

Ah the skull and crossbones and random swirls style.

Self-seed campion.

Self seed I think.

See? That looks a little like both, but not one I remember.

As I’m a little heat addled I’m not sure what I’ve ben talking about, I did manage to cast a successful axe-head thanks to a little creative tweaking, I’ll join it all later on. Then stick it in the garden and mostly forget it’s there. I have been looking at masks, partly to finish off the final bag of cement mix, which is a lot more involved as the search engine has a mind of it’s own, hiding results is a common one, but I did find an angry clown with a vague description, anything other than plastic is useless and many don’t list the material bar it feels good and suitable for parties, yeah, really, but the clown was cheap so why not, right? Dear Reader, it came with a full clown wig, saved, lights, also saved, and is huge. Might be one of the biggest yet. Finding this hobby has been a godsend, it fills the dead spaces in the garden, rather than cramming too much inside the house, and never get’s boring. For now I finish up, paint later and watch plants grow. I’ll be back again later, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

First tier of the strawberries is in.

Years of meaning to paint those letters and finally I do.

Jasmine is really bushing out.

Still no idea where the daisy came from.

I spread a lot, but they’re everywhere, which is good.

Back rose is filling in, nettles and knotweed are being yanked regularly and made into feed.

Self-seeded geum.

Peas in bottomless trays were good, maybe needed more time to root because the later ones were a little slippery. Saves time and bending.

I could take dozens of photos as they’re in every corner.

Spuds are popping up.

Swing and A Miss

That is indeed a baby rose! One of two.

Oh, a pink, or whatever this is, before the yellow, that’s unusual.

Roses are a little wild beneath which I’ve learned to love.

Haven’t managed to mark out the cabbage bed yet with the way the weather has been. I have plenty though.

Everlasting sweetpeas are back.

Hard to show how tall the roses are. Hard to measure too.

Seven feet pole for scale.

Must remember to take these before the birds do.

No idea how big they’ll get, not the best year, but they’re looking good.

That’s pretty.

I had to transplant other flowers to get the small pots back.

Just a few I thought.

Yo, Dear Reader, we’re still mostly overcast in May so you can imagine how I feel about that and save me from repeating myself. It is hot so there’s that, I ended up really angry and figured I’d either do something or brood, so I planted nearly the same amount of squash seeds again, I have them why not use them I figure, I’m actually running low on pots somehow. Then I decided to clamber into the raspberries, the oldest part of me reworking the garden, and started to remove dead canes. Then I figured I’d smash the buckets they’re in, bottomless naturally, Dear Reader, plastic is terrifying for how long to lasts. I took up plastic matting and opened them up, if they grow great, but if not I can replace, they’re great plants and I’ve had them for a decade at least so I hope they’ll be okay. I also shoved a josta berry in there, dodging the tayberry that is really growing wild. The rhubarb is firmly wedged in, I think I just inserted the container around it, so I’ll just split the crown come Winter. That rhubarb may be as old as the garden.

Ah, it’s…ummm…garlic something allium flower thingy.

Magnolia, uneaten thankfully.

Old barrel top came in handy, the roots are now opened and covered in new soil.

Figuring out the labels is always a struggle. I never learn.

Years trying o figure if this was actually a self-seeded geum, it is.

Bare walls no more.

All the small fiddly cloves in hot water for a few days, well the water got cold naturally. Then they go into the hotbin because I am thorough.

Looking sparse, but I’ll be patient.

Shop garlic is thinner leafed, but thick in the stem.

If it’s one thing I am it’s honest, Dear Reader, I’m not going to play up the achievements only, it’d be disingenuous and would take away from my accomplishments, this sound a lot more impactful than a concrete axe, but this is also the way I am. Bought two plastic axes for a few Euro and tried the split and fill, the handle was okay bar the top, but the rest just didn’t work right, keeping the pieces just in case though, so next one is now widened with duct-tape and split in two pieces. Do I need a concrete axe? No, same way I don’t need a concrete hand, but it’s still hanging by a zip-tie over a bucket in my shed because I wanted to know if it’d work. There is one last mask for a while and it is huge, I had no idea it was cheap, but came with a wig and lights. I don’t need either, but a huge angry clown face is a need.

Coffee seems to be helping with the slugs, funnily a lot popped up when I replanted, all with the seed pod stuck. Never remove it, I sometimes do it, but it’s often wrong.

Under the roses are old yellow poppies that emerged from any hole in the matting.

I love seeing the insects coming to the flowers as much as I love seeing the flowers.

Aquilegia everywhere, two types so far.

Harts Tongue Fern still growing on the wall base.

Coffee, stink, all the things I need to keep them happy.

Once the passiflora blooms out it goes.

Back to green again.

This smells so amazing.

So, we must be at three years of the baby amaryllis, which I still can’t spell, and finally I separated them, figured I’d buy a dozen small pots and have a few leftover, right? Oh, Dear Reader, why am I good at growing things I have no space for? There were fifty six baby bulbs of various sizes, yes I’m keeping most of them, giving away a few. Indoor plants are getting costly and I just like watching things grow anyway, but from me pollinating my own plants for a laugh to tossing down the seeds in a pot because surely they’d never germinate to this, well, it’s fun I guess. I keep saying things are slow and they are, but to say nothing is growing is a disservice to the garden and myself. The garden is it’s own unique thing, between the waste garlic water and the weeds to feed, compost bins full of waste and waste cardboard, weird art and cramped spaces, well, it’s mine and mine alone, but I’m always glad to have a space to share about it all, you never know who’ll learn something useful. I’ll be back later, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

100% sure the rose spray was doing harm now, look at how glossy this old rose is.

It’s silly, but it would be fun, here’s hoping the second works.

Forgot where I planted the onions for a moment. Really confused, then I remembered the bathtub.

There was also a lavender in there, from a cutting, a campion, birds likely, and a lot of bluebells.

Teasel holds water, handy for insects I’m sure.

Salmonberry looking good.

Not sure which berry this is actually.

I realised I had to repot this after the first surgery so I’ve had it a while now.

Why? Because I had to?

Changing Of The Guard…Garden

I say this is all for the bees and people still think I’m joking.

Cleared most of the creeping buttercup in the front, tree lilies looking good.

Angel + Lentils = Angle.

Hydrangea cutting.

Pretty sure I spread all these by shaking the dried seed-heads around.

Okay, this is the red Hydrangea from a cutting, first flower ever!

Aquilegia is everywhere.

Eighteen holes, eighteen berries rooting and filling up the insertable rings.

Looked awful at first, but then the sun came.

Yo, Dear Reader, the weather is still so far out of the norm for the season it’s maddening. I know this is how it’ll be, but the whiplash of being out yesterday with zero sun and heat and today being blistered by sun and heat while tomorrow could be cold and rainy is…somethin I’m just going to stay angry and realise that that’s normal. I have plants starting well and others hardly at all, even the cabbages are slow and they’re always a pest for growing too fast. I think the raspberries are on their last legs, sad as I’ve had them the longest, but I’ll get in and try to expose the ground and the roots to see if they’ll revive. If they’re gone then me damaging them to check won’t matter, before I didn’t want to do too much as I may harm them. They’re in bottomless buckets so I’ll open it out and wait and then decide if I want a bed or raised pots with new plants. Change is a constant, Dear Reader, a constant pain in my…neck.

Oddly the oldest hydrangea is suddenly bushing out all over.

Ranunculus in the bed as the baskets are mostly done.

They’re so tall.

Chucky. I also made a castle that managed to get stuck and broke the mould.

With the rain I could miss this entirely so partial bloom for now just in case.

One of the graveyard rescues.

The other, really big now too. Probably costly, but just dumped.

Cleaner, but in need of a lot of plants.

I’ve been making a lot of masks, really condensing my whole year’s worth into a few weeks to help with the dead dull days, we haven’t had a real Spring yet, so they’re something worth focusing on. I’m mostly done, I have a few more bits to go yet, but once the cement mix is done so am I…I say that a lot, Dear Reader, but I mean it. Getting too stuck in a routine isn’t good either, like the raspberries making me wonder about jam I remind myself I’m not answering to anyone and optimising isn’t worth it constantly if it isn’t bringing joy. Moving things around the garden shows how much it has changed, I’m actually running out of wall space which is mindboggling as the bare walls were always an eye sore. I’ll likely stick the smaller ornaments around when they’re painted. I had hoped the pie slices could be combined, but they’re slanted outwards and the lattice doesn’t align. It’d have taken eighteen days, but you know I’d have done it, Dear Reader.

Currant flowers are popping out.

Smacked it with the gate by mistake, seemed okay with that.

Was tempted to tile this with a joke about two ingredients, cement and sand, croissants.

Rockery really lovely even before it flowers.

More peas coming soon.

Flowering currant has bees making a beeline for it constantly.

Right now I’m trying to gauge what needs to get ready to go out and get planted. The bottomless pea idea work, just lifted it from the tray and shook it free into the hole. Much easier to line up peas like this rather than with individual pots or direct sowing. The strawberries are all secured for the barrel, thanks to someone I have an additional three varieties in the garden which is fun, they’re not all that different, but enjoyable nonetheless. For May I have a lot done, but there’s so much that is out of my control and at a crawl right now. Mostly, Dear Reader, I make sure the bees are okay and hope for the best. It’s not just me, I know that, but I can only make so many masks to fill the void! I’ll be back again soon, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

A little of everything all at once is my style.

Trying to figure out who will take the expensive to buy free plants.

Apple tree from a scion.

One-eye, named for the obvious and because I always named a character in the Worms games that when I was a kid, asymmetry is actually rare in these and neat.

Beans, tree lilies and a trumpet flower I assumed was dead.

Took down an unused basket arm and since I had a basket and strawberries I figured I’d fill that dead corner.

Espresso for Two

What I’m still assuming is a rose seedling is growing.

There are a few buds on the passiflora.

More light, less eating my squash and a scent of coffee.

Had a little cement mix leftover in an open bag and stuck a screw in there.

It’d be amazing on the post, but would fall off too easy.

Can’t cut the rose back these years, so eight feet it is.

You can technically walk through it.

Yo, Dear Reader, it really doesn’t feel like May, feels like we haven’t even had Spring yet, but where there’s heat there’s growth so things are too bleak. I did have an issue with slugs or snails eating my squash seedlings, I’d swear they like the uchiki kuri, so naturally I stayed angry all night and figured out what to do. I removed the frame on the staging as Winter me had a greenhouse with less clarity there and Spring me, best way to think of any of these ideas occurring at different times of the year, found out the temperature was much better in there, might have retained heat, but the loss of extra sunlight wasn’t worth it. Then adding work to myself, remove it’s too narrow to turn in any way other than cautiously in there, also I’m huge, I figured I’d shuffle the blocks, had enough to raise the staging thanks to a random chunk leftover from another propjet, a theme in this post actually. So that went up and uncovered and then covered in coffee grinds. Someone lamented that it’s so hard to get enough grinds, honestly, Dear Reader, I drink enough to cover the garden if needed.

Ranunculus is the last of the hanging basket bulbs to bloom.

Odd seedling is an oxalis.

The heirloom rose would’ve been fantastic if left alone, these roses should never be cut back hard. Look at this, barely a year and so big.

I’ve had little luck with delicata strangely, but maybe this is the year.

Not sure if the poinsettia is trying to flower, they keep falling off when it gets cold.

Honesty seed pods, which look like money or communion wafers when dried.

Things change a lot when you tend to try out everything and refuse to waste, I actually took down the berry netting as it wasn’t keeping insects off and ended up slimy thanks to the constant rain, which was held up by two heavy duty brackets, I forgot that though and left it until the same angry night it hit me I could put up one more cheap planter on the wall and reinforce it with these. I actually checked the cost online for the same troughs and it was four times the cost. A little fiddling around and up it went, I’m now running out of wall whereas before it was bare and ugly and a pain. Funny what you can learn over time by doing everything piece by piece, Dear Reader. For now I’m mostly waiting on growth and watching for damage, the early leaf damage won’t do much harm, but better to be safe. I need twenty squash to fill the large trugs, so two of each roughly, I have a lot more than that planted, but with our weather I need to do that. I’ll be finishing up my ornament making, for a while, soonish, a little whimsy and a few more masks, maybe a castle and then we see what needs to be done next. I can’t plan by the seasons, but I can still plan, Dear Reader. I’ll be back soon, until then stay safe and take care.

White is the first to open.

The third amaryllis is going to flower as well!

Magnolia are lovely.

Tips have been added and it’ll be painted later.

The honeysuckle will likely cover the laurel eventually.

Can’t tell if the tree lily divided or I stuck more in there, neat either way.

Castles In The Garden

Ajuga is so pretty.

Passiflora buds, likely a two year to bloom plant, so Summer comes it’s outside. I like it, but need the space.

Lentils is aghast at being born.

Aquilegia, which is everywhere this year.

The only rose I have that seems to always start again at the base, not wild mind or a sucker.

Teasel is half invasive, but I like it for the bees.

The details are nice.

It’s not all greenery.

Little to no work, think it’s related to mint.

Yo, Dear Reader, the rain has returned, but not the absolutely dismal rain we had for so long, I’d much rather it be sunny and warm, but wet and warm isn’t the worst for April. I do think that the greenhouse’s partial re-glazing might be helping it retain more heat, or it might be wishful thinking, but there is a lingering heat even long after the sun vanishes so it’s good either way. The garden is filling out again, that space between the final flush of Spring and the promise of Summer. There is an unbroken sequence of blooms happening right now which is what I always aim for, not always possible, Dear Reader, especially with the way the weather is, but I’ll work for as garden more full of bees every year.

Pineapple mint is so pretty.

Lily tree shoots are huge looking this year.

Bird gets a base and the letter B to prop him up.

Poppies popping out.

Hotdog as his nose is an odd tube shape.

I’ve given up training that.

The last of the tulips are just now blooming.

Either a self-seed or a rebloom.

I did have a brush with disaster, I went pouring concrete on what seemed like a guaranteed warm if not dry spell and a few days later we had some light frost, no harm done somehow, but I’ll be more cautious next time, yes there’s always a next time, Dear Reader. My castle has been to the wars a little, hard to say if it’s the mould…designed for sand, or the frost. Naturally me being me I’ll find out and pour another, while I have poured another top, just a little beyond the turrets, for repairs if possible. It’s funny that if this were a vital project it’d be stressful and irksome, but as it’s just me goofing around I can try various things and stick it somewhere far way enough to hide the flaws if nothing else. I have a bit of a slower time ahead, the squash pots are finally all amended, only realising belatedly there are 75 litre ands 65 litre versions, I kept lifting them in and out of the wheelbarrow while full and you don’t think much when doing that.

Sedum flowers are so fun.

The tops were fine until one hit the table and chipped too.

Rose cloud above Naru’s Garden.

Tree lilies usually bloom every year, but taller every other year.

That it all lined up was pure luck. It’s triple secured because I’m overcautious.

Angel as it was imported by an Ángel Tomas.

Squash starting both in and out of the covered frame.

A shasta daisy I rescued last year.

This popped up last year, I have no clue where from. Maybe I put down a root stock rose.

Back lilac, I have a system for names, not a great system mind, is really going to burst forth this year.

Naturally there are a few more projects on the cards, a combo mask and two others if they’re suitable, looks like a stock clearance listing just coincided with my searches. The wall planter is a one off, it was extremely cheap, but they aren’t sturdy enough to just put up as is, hence me taking apart another wall bracket to make it work, I miss the wrought iron monsters that once were the standard, Dear Reader, you could fill those with heavy masks…or flowers, whatever. I have had an idea of somehow adding a vent to the greenhouse in lieu of a functional window, perhaps where the thin, broken glass is in the door. That’ll take a little thinking and learning before I really commit to it. Right now I want it sealed to retain heat, but it’s no harm to think ahead when warm Summer’s hit, if ever I feel like adding, Dear Reader. I’ll keep carrying on with it all, still trying to name all these masks seems the hardest task, heh, I’ll be back again soon, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

Never stops being fun to me.

Oak coming along nicely.

First of the spuds is just now emerging.

Connemara Daisies.

Slight yellow in the centre rather than the usual white.

Seed tomatoes had a growth spurt.

Front lilac is beginning to flower for the first time.

Seems like everything is just suddenly here.

Bee Smacked

Hard to imagine we still have tulips coming.

They’re so clear you can’t tell they’re there unless they’re covered in condensation.

First rose of the year!

That centre one is going to be tricky and done much later.

I know they’re scrapping forest floors for potting compost material, but come on! This is in my squash pot.

My boys.

Second squash has started, took maybe a week and a half, maybe two.

Yo, Dear Reader, this is going to be written up piecemeal, just to get my head in order as it feels like the ideas are pinballing around in here, the garden always has a lot to do. and I am making progress, but there seems to be so, so much more right now due to the delays. Still, things are looking good and when it settles a little I’ll be able to slow my racing brain. The animal kingdom seems to be congregating in the garden these days, there are two cats that have taken to taking strolls in the garden, also watching me. A dronefly, the bee like zigzagging insects that are swarming everywhere right now, came up trying to land on me, then landed on the statue and only left when I did, returning when I passed again. Which is odd, but confirmable, what’s weirder is the same orange, pompom like bee came to the greenhouse where I was checking and smacked it a few times two days running. Looks like an orange bobble, but never comes when I have the camera. Sounds like a weird lie, doesn’t it, Dear Reader?

One blue popping up.

Tayberries are out early.

Potting table, old potting table I guess, got screwed to strengthen and a lick of paint to use up the old fence paint.

Baby money plant off-shoot.

Grim weather, but they’re happy.

Slow down, wait until you’re in the barrel, thanks.

Greenhouse rose.

I did swear I was leaving the glazing alone for now and then went back to the door and it turned out that the rock hard putty was only the first problem, the door has two lips, I have no idea what to call any of the frame, forgive me, but inside there’s a gap. I assumed the panel wold slip in and no, needed to be shoved in hard, it’s very old greenhouse, Dear Reader, warped in places, the back that blew off managed to deform the pane to fit, oddly handy, but the door is even more delicate. You can imagine the terror of being new to this and working with the oddest part. I managed to get it in secured and sealed, but I was done for a while, Dear Reader. Then when I looked at the back where the mixed panes are I noticed how loose the plastic top panel was. It peeled off in my hands, Dear Reader, just popped out thanks to a silicone base, but surely the putty would…no, fell off. Now the glass, naturally it’s very old and just slid up and out. It was the easiest it has been, which was somehow more worrisome. Naturally it’d all be easier if I cold start with an empty frame, but it looks good and is getting stronger with each piece. I worry about storms, but considering how loose so much of it was I realise it’s now way more prepared for them.

See? I can prove he exists.

Campion is out and will be blooming on and off for months.

For the first time in years you can see through two corner panes.

Mystery plant has to be a hazel.

Won’t be long now.

Cuttings after a year grow so fast.

I have an idea about the triangles, one sheet should do both, better than buying a long one, not that I can get it, and cutting the top. The glass is washed and I may combine it with a acrylic sheet and a joining strip in the corner. Naturally while I have the full sheet still because the clips may crack it after so long. My brain isn’t an optimistic one, but it does find solutions before problems occur, which sometimes is useful. I realised I must be ten years at all of this, which isn’t a very long time in some ways, but in other very much is. It’s been piecemeal and repurposing for all of it, money would make it all a doddle, but I think even if I could just buy a new greenhouse whenever I needed it I’d still do all of this. I know when in time things are settled and I have some time with all the changes I’ll look back at this anxiety over everything and it’ll seem silly, right now it’s important to face it, but not be overwhelmed by it. I hope to finally get the squash pots finished and as one has started we’re already on the next phase of the garden, the most exciting time of all, the beginning of sowing. Supposedly the weather will stay good for a few more days, might rain, but nothing like we had, but then again, Dear Reader, I may return to this and the weather may be terrible. I’ll do what I can while I can. I’ll be back again later, until then stay safe and take care.

Planted by cheapest first.

I think some of that silicone came with the glass. It was black from age.

Baby snakeplant. They really like dry and compacted pots.

I forget I have an outdoor thermometer, but have no idea if it’s accurate.

Garlic from bulbils.

Carpenter, Glazer, Gardener, Artist Or Just Jack

Tulips are still appearing.

Late blooming, scented daffodils.

Photos are a great way to see beyond what needs to be done.

New baby amaryllis on the oldest plant.

Red rose needed staking.

Tomatoes are slow and the garlic is a little ahead of the ones outside.

Not by much either.

Lucked out with the new rhubarb, likely grown in a mass and take way in chunks, I got a good few pieces.

Pinky finger sized, needed a teaspoon to replant it.

Almost mistook this for a nettle. I only have two, but they’re interesting.

Tayberries are fast this year.

White bluebells are delicate.

Yo, Dear Reader, we’ve had three, yes three whole consecutive days of sunshine, strong, short sleeve sunshine at that and I have been doing all the things I have wanted to and more besides. I found that the supplier I found for the Perspex, acrylic, whatever, also had 2mm panels at half the cost, you’d think that’d be a given since they’re half the thickness, but no, that are suitable for the roof so I buy them and they arrive wrapped, not boxed, but obviously they’ll have the wooden panels either side, right? Nice thin panels of plywood or whatever, but no, they came with a sheet that was three times as thick as the panels were. Dear Reader, I am not good at woodwork, at all, not in an ironic way, or a bashful way, more I would rather…well, just not work with wood, but me being me I figured I needed to use it because the shed was full. So, out comes the jigsaw and the sawhorses and I almost blew the jigsaw trying to cut it, but I did and now my patchwork table is wider, taller and better. Then I used one of the other panels to make a placemat, painted to match the newly painted kitchen and the scrap piece fit the bowed shelf. News to me it was bowed, but glad it worked.

Crocuses and dwarf tulips are a good combo.

My shed is small and has way too much, but every tool was and is needed.

The buds are more impressive than the flowers on these currants.

Grandmother’s rose getting ready to bloom.

Thought it was a bud, might be eating some of the lilac, but eh, he’s neat looking.

Second Japanese Hydrangea is budding too.

Tulip and hosta.

Hazelnut is pretty.

Irises among the garlic.

Good old shed floor garlic.

Ah, the first strawberry plug has filled the pot, now to wait on the other seventeen…

Naturally being solar charged, slathered in suncream too naturally, I figured I’d tackle a few other jobs, one of which was trying to figure out how to cut Perspex with the jigsaw, I had the blades because I’m always prepared and always learning, but how do I cut a panel that needs a point? Well, Dear Reader, I watched my uncle do it eight years ago, I don’t have his experience, but I did pick up a few tricks, I marked it using the greenhouse frame, donned my googles and gloves and took a chance and I did it? I did! Fits just right and I will be able to use what was somewhat useless Perspex, used as a splashguard for years, to prove I can do it and to replace the main back panel. I always like the saying that: “Perfect is the enemy of good.”, I’d have started nothing if I wanted it all to go just right. I’ll admit it still scares me tackling such huge jobs, but the payoff is worth it in the long run and each task builds my skills just a little more. It’s why I share the okay projects, the less than inspiring, because not everything needs to be a magical moment, Dear Reader, sometimes using junk to make something useful, but rough is enough.

Peas grew so fast they needed to go to the cold-frame.

This was just piled junk not so long ago.

Salmonberry looking good.

Sunshine and vivid colours are a great combo.

Baby ZZ Plant has a third spike.

Last Year’s wild Snapdragon is somehow not dead.

Always the first to bloom.

Cranesbill is fighting the creeping buttercup and winning.

That delphinium comes back every year and I thought they were just a two year and done plant.

All the red is the jasmine I thought swallowed up by the honeysuckle.

I don’t want this weather to stop.

With the weather right the potatoes are finally down, there’s currently worry of a shortage due to delayed planting and I always think that if every garden has a space for fruit and vegetables, many which tend themselves, well, the world would be richer for it. I’ll keep doing what I can, the garden is full of bees right now and the first butterflies have appeared. I’d swear they’re looking at the unplanted cabbage patch, Dear Reader. There was even a reddish bee smacking the greenhouse, from the outside, for some reason. They have their ways and I’m indebted to them for the squashes so we’ll carry on doing what we do together. I’m IDing a lot of plants these days because so much is emerging. I may have two rose seedling grown from collected hips, I forget which plant mind, but it’d be an amazing thing to see roses from from the seed of a cultivated variety as opposed to a wild rose. I’m also growing garlic I found on the shed floor so I’m not deviating from my usual ways at least.

Must be hundreds of droneflies.

Sole tulip with a little red.

To busy to pose.

More of this, please.

Love Lies Bleeding, Aster, Pis…Dandelion.

Orchid reblooming as the older flowers go back.

Oh, I had a friend.

Oddly there’s aquilegia everywhere, I had to cut out and replant the one that’s been stuck in the stones for years, just me and a kitchen knife saving it.

Tree lilies are back, as is the creeping buttercup.

I’m chatty because, again, sunshine, it’s helping a lot, bot curing my depression, but as I often say the best ting for depression is good times and peaceful days. I’ve been bouncing around the last three days, ticking off the items off the list in my head, naturally adding more as I go, and doing whatever seems necessary. I spotted the knotweed again and improvised a puller by zip tying two sanding pads to a littler picker. Pull and yank, but from far away. Weeds happen and they’ve had free rein, but I’m careful with them none the less. The only thing that gets to overrun the garden is squash, Dear Reader, thanks to the high temperatures I was able to plant a lot too, more to do yet. Getting the compost emptied and the squash pots amended is my main task now. The soil is rich and black all thanks to the work of the worms. There’ll also be a few more masks and a surprise, a silly little something, but should be fun. Nice to have a good few days to share this time around, Dear Reader, here’s hoping I get a few more before any changes. I’ll be back soon, until then stay safe and take care.

Butterfly went in, spun around and flew away.

I wonder what it originally had when it was glass, maybe just one huge panel. Which is scary since glass shatters easily.

Hit twenty eight in the coolest part a day ago, squash needs a few days of twenty degrees and we’ve been lucky so far.

A little wider is good, but higher is even better. Will paint it soon too to use up old fence paint.

Can’t remember a better year for tulips.

Oh, yeah the scion apple tree.

Blueberries are small and bitter, but the bees love the flowers.

Oh, that B-b-baby Face!

Rosemary flowers look like little fairies.

Raspberries are a little slow this year.

Every garden should have a flowering currant, partly for the bees, partly because they’re so pretty.

Magnolia is so pretty.

I moved the marble as the bed has sunk and there are so many masks.

Apple blossoms are always striking.

Refuses to rise.

Tried every rotation with the horns and managed to find a better solution.

Never stops being exciting.

I’ll freak out when I think it isn’t there. Way too many clips, but with the unseasonal storms no it isn’t.

Lilac buds.

What a great shape.

Snapping a photo and rushing off instead of being careful. Currants look good.

Centre is Babyface.

Garlic is king here right now.

Yo, Dear Reader, things have been hectic, I had to repaint and revamp a kitchen in two days, which is manageable, but at the start I put out my back, so I am coming off pain and paint fumes and may not be as coherent as usual, yeah there’s an obvious joke there and as I am always a bastion of eloquence I won’t need to make it. The weather is picking up slightly, but we’re really behind, it’d be fine if it were possible to get out and clean up or prepare, but even that’s a fight. I just need to get out and clear my head, it’s like year long Winter doldrums. I did finally decide to tackle the greenhouse panel replacement, like I mentioned before they’re extremely puttied in and changing to glazing clips feels odd, they look loose even though they’re tighter, Brains are weird, Dear Reader. Ah, but the light, the glorious light that’ll hopefully start my squash which marks the real turning point of the growing season…for me.

Bluebells are here finally.

Sea thrift in an old waste tube…I mean column planter.

Saw a bumblebee, but couldn’t get a photograph.

Cheap peonies, no idea why they have different colours.

Went out to get the idea nothing is starting out of my head.

Multipacks of seeds for next to nothing are doing well.

Might see fruit on the wild blackberries this year.

Wild strawberries are blooming.

RTC, my first orchid and my favourite.

You learn a lot by doing.

Three year old gooseberry, kept getting attacked by pests, but looks good so far.

Tulips are still emerging.

Indoor garlic is slightly ahead, but not by much.

It’s not all glazing, or plants, no, much like the garden it’s a bit of everything all in a rush. I managed to get the bones reattached, funnily despite tossing some pieces I still had four when I finished. They were marked 1A, 2A etc and I was never more glad to be so cautious, Dear Reader, because it was so bewildering trying to sand them flat to connect and then remember which end was up, sure it might be a little bit of overkill, but look at the sheer volume of glazing clips and realise I’ll make sure it works and works well if I start anything. I managed to get the last of this batch of masks made too, only one combo as they were all too like the originals when joined. I realised how much fun this is and how often I feel I shouldn’t be doing this, which is a cornerstone of my depression, pushing through that and realising we should all find our joys wherever they lie, whether it be Chubby Cheeked Baby Face or no, everything is Baby Face now.

Jasmine somehow yet lives even inside the honeysuckle.

Going to be a few more years after this before it reblooms.

It’s not all bones, some of it is bird. With a whittled letter X as a beak.

I like to show them at their roughest too, better to be honest and foster interest than to pretend perfection and deter.

I mark them and then forget half of them, thankfully I have notes and dates.

Yeah, honesty is really pretty after all.

Remember the greenhouse fig, cost 2.50?, it’s out and happy.

Eight years of service, thank you wobbly crunchy panel. Stored for emergencies for now.

Campion, self seeded and I just recognised it as a wanted plant and not a weed.

Beaky, needed a big surround to even think of casting him, much like Fossil.

Needs a stand or base. Closest thing to a nest if I can find it.

Inside is a profusion of reblooms, RTC must be on it’s eight or ninth rebloom, the amaryllis are finally reblooming, one might be blooming for the first time because it failed initially, the oldest is about three years old now, even has side bulbs getting larger year by year. No plant should ever be considered disposable, Dear Reader, they might take a long tie to grow strong enough to flower and that’s fine, isn’t it? Shouldn’t we all be given the time we need to show what we can achieve? For me every year I keep showing that I can do a lot even with so many limits, those achievements don’t erase the struggle, they may even exist because of it in part, but I’m learning to look after myself when I need to build up my energy so I too can bloom. I hope that next month is better, Dear Reader, we need it right now and I hope I never stop enjoying all of this. I’ll be back again soon, until then stay safe and take care.

Was going to take those strawberries for the barrel, but they’re happy there. Instead I found one growing in the stones near the strawberry bed.

Them bones, them bones they need epoxy.

Chillies getting there slowly.

The wrapped grow house is handy and doing well.

That’s the old pane, even with clouding it does let in sun.

This means the other one starting must be the yellow…unless it was just dyed yellow.

Only combo this time, no name yet. It’ll come.

Second from the left, beside Picasso, one ear oddly, is so much like someone, but I can’t place him.

Hope it flowers again.

Feed, Weed, Weed To Feed

Fun observation: There are a lot of copycats in these plastic toys, some outright, some piecemeal. You can see Gerald in this, but not quite fully.

Assumed that was going to die off, it was teeny a week or so ago. Fuchsia, not…well, you know.

Paint will make all the details pops, for now the sun does the same.

I’ll need the planters so I can’t just keep these for next year. They’ll go elsewhere.

Remember Pouty Mouth and Domestos? Meet Parazone!

Mystery plant is…no idea. Looks like, well, everything.

Didn’t know they were in there.

I am going to regret not buying more of those planters when they were made of wrought Iron and cheap every day, aren’t I?

Yo, Dear Reader, for the first time in months we had a fully sunny day. I’m just suspicious whenever it’s sunny now because it vanishes in a few minutes after I get out, but no, hoodie off weather even, the greenhouse hit twenty eight degrees in the cooler part. So I rushed out to start catching up on cleaning it up, which means weeding, lots of weeding. I’ve learned to use the weeds so the ones without flowers or seeds go to soak in water and even the barrel of coffee and leachate, practically fermented it has taken me so long to use it, has been emptied over the weeded garlic and onions. Also the roses and rhubarb and berries…it’s been months, Dear Reader, but I waste nothing useful. Rain gets into the hotbin, terrible design, and I keep the watery run off to feed plants straight rather than diluting. Buying feed bar bonemeal is no longer a need here.

Needs a little fixing and maybe feet.

I’ve never seen a hazel sapling, thought it was a weed.

Almost black tulips are always amazing.

Bursting open in the sun.

We need more sun.

In the sun the En Suite really looks better now it’s level.

Buddleia and Red Rose looking good.

Of course today was a great day to get the newly demoulded masks out into the garden and I feel like I’m already using up all the space I made and I had another eleven to go. It remains one of the most fun parts of the garden, even if finding spaces is getting trickier. There was an issue with the bones as I mentioned, but I expected that, didn’t expected the rest to be fine, though my hands and nails are battered having to get them out. The cement cures and shrinks so it vacuum seals my sealed my masks and I never get over how awkward it is, but I never stop either. They’re my own little passion project, solely for me and whoever like them, I may stop one day, but right now I like them because they reminds me to take things slow, that it’ll be there for the rest of my life. A counter to the weather forcing me to do too much all at once.

X becomes a rough idea of a beak thanks to a penknife. Original beak was too narrow.

Scariest of all because it is very much mostly a normal man. The forehead lines and eyelids are proof how good concrete is for impressions.

Cheapest often work the best.

Wild tulip, spotted it while weeding. It’s been hidden by garlic a little.

I am too out of touch to know what this is ripping off.

These may be for the crow/bird.

Clematis from a slip many years ago.

Secret Garden came out well too.

Ideally the weather would stay like this, but I’m no idealist, Dear Reader, I’ve planted more squash, but working from the ones I have a lot of or that I only need one or two of. They need around twenty degrees consistently and that isn’t happening, but I can’t not take a chance with days like this, even if it’s wet, heat is heat. Mostly it’s out of my hands, everything is affected right now, if I could do something else, like fixing up the greenhouse, or amending pots that’d be fine, but it’s all or nothing with this weather. It’ll be DIY inside on the worst days, but you can be sure I’ll be keeping things moving outside, however slow, patience might be key, but persistence also pays. I’ll be back again soon, Dear Reader, possibly with the next batch of masks, until then stay safe and take care.

Oh, I never forget an idea, took nearly a half year, but we’re almost there.

Tulips are lasting so long this year and still coming.

Japanese Hydrangea finally looking good.

Finding a spot for the spine was backbreaking.

Bluebells and campion.

Popped up last year and I have no clue where it came from. Only vaguely sure it’s a daisy.

This is the second “pumpkin”, first is Mushmouth, there’s another too.

Bone Breaker, Spine Maker

Most are facedown right now.

I take photos to find the good parts.

Hosta is just suddenly up. Nettles are appearing and one fine day I’m not super busy they’re plant feed.

Lovely tulips and that wall that was painted just before the rain came and never left.

Started and just had a few to go and the rain and wind came, I was prepared.

Heuchera! Bless you.

Parrot Tulips are usually fussier than this.

How they’ve sticking the wind is a mystery.

Yo, Dear Reader, yes, I know I’ve been saying it for nearly a full year, but at this stage the rain, rain and wind, rain and occasional sporadic sun has gotten to the stage of a fever dream. I went out to pour concrete on the one dry day we had and then we have had two days of strong winds and heavy rain. The masks should be fine, I’ll keep them in the “moulds” longer, I keep joking that these moulds are rather awkward and sometimes I mean it because I forget they’re cheap plastic Halloween masks. I knew that the bones would like break, I’ll let them dry, hah!, and cure more and eventually sand the breaks flat and join them with epoxy, but in the continuing adventures of I didn’t expect that the soft, thin plastic somehow became hard and unyielding, between peeling/cracking the spine casing off, mercifully it’s thick enough, technically anything under four inches is bad idea (Yeah, I still made the bones knowing that), and having to prise the bone halves apart, one I mis cut and paid for it with my poor fingers, I wonder why I do this and then I saw I had a concrete spine and some bones and that makes it worth the hassle.

Thought that had been eaten, might’ve been upside down.

Bag of skulls has been made bar one, this was me checking the cure. Looks pleasantly surprised to be here.

How do I make them. A lot of filling with a cut off bottle and shaking. More work than they appear as the cement mix is thick.

It’s not all concrete, some of it is fancy, short stemmed tulips.

Seriously, some are amazing.

A little damage on the vertebrae…not what you expect to hear from a recipe blog.

I just want to see my magnolia bloom before the storm or rain knocks the flowers off.

Was “gifted” this weird mirror thingy…signpost?…now it points to The Secret Garden.

I did forget the feet, they’re still out there, that and nine or so masks, a big skull and a crow. Honestly, Dear Reader, for the price of materials it’s worth it a hundred times over for the fun of trying something that has no need to be perfect, just enjoyable odd. I spent a fair few days redoing a bathroom and hall and having to work over old paint and awkward spaces reminds me of the garden, no matter how lumpy or different in the end the work rewards, yeah, it’s the journey etc. In all I’ve read about mental health the biggest is always finding something you love, but it’s way more limited than is useful. Make the concrete spine sounds silly, but when the weather is causing a real low in my moods things like this help far more than they seem like they would. It also reminds me succeed of fail it’s only for me in the end of it all. I just hope I can do this separately from the ever mounting garden tasks, there will be no breaks, Dear Reader, at this rate it’ll be a breakneck rush instead.

Fluffy muscari, forget what variety, were part of a cheap multipack that just keeps going.

You’d think we had sun all year with some of these shots.

Dwarf or wild tulips.

A really good year for tulips despite everything.

Mr. Lookatme.

Wild Strawberries are bigger this year.

Really want to be outside more.

First it was too slow, now it’s too fast.

I’ll flatten it by sanding then stick, eventually it’ll be painted white and I’ll forget how much work it was and start again.

Things are in an odd place, cool enough to keep Spring plants around longer than usual, but windy enough to trash them too, and yet I have plants growing that I can’t do anything with, potatoes that need to be planted, but I haven’t even dug the bed get for them, peas suddenly flying up that can’t go anywhere, seeds that can’t be started yet or I can’t get out to start. One heartening sight is the bees everywhere, even in the storms, whether it’s memory of previous years or just the bright colourful flowers it seems as if there’s more than ever before. I also had a robin trashing about in the air, frantically chirruping, I assumed it had been hurt, but no, I wasn’t look at it apparently and when I did it looked at me and flew away. Presumably contented. For now I try to keep busy in and stay patient, I can’t control he weather nor the failures and obstacles it might bring, I’ll keep saying that, Dear Reader and maybe I’ll believe it. Until later, stay safe and take care.

One apple tree, despite being the same variety and planted at the same time, always blooms first.

Bought a cheapie mirror window and found there was an old hole in the bare wall so in the rose garden it goes.

One of the mystery plants is indeed a gooseberry.

Sad I can’t make a huge column.

Excuse hands, but everything is droopy.

Back astilbe.

Stop it passifloria, if you refuse to bloom you’re outside.