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.

The Hole Truth

I hope they rebloom some day.

For what it was this wasn’t bad really, just needed a little more after years of settling.

Haha duct tape? No, really.

The flowers are somehow surviving all this unseasonable weather.

Sorry, strong winds means no opening anything. Things are starting albeit slower than they should.

Ah, the eclipse.

I will add so, so many clips when I fix the panes.

Moving things around to make a little shelf because there’s a slope to the firepit wall and then to make a little edge in the front. All smashed out of the path or here previously.

Yo, Dear Reader, we had back to back storms just the other day, or was it yesterday, time means nothing nowadays, naturally we still have rain, but the greenhouse is still just fine. I ended up checking the new panels and spotted the roof edge that’s lose from degraded putty, swear I’ll be a glazing expert at the end of this, Dear Reader, so I naturally held it and tried to reach all the way down the garden into the house, that being a failure I went in fast and grabbed some duct tape which held for the storms. Then I went out to see could I fix it up a little for now, function is the main word here, none of it is pretty, I removed the putty, a putty knife really works best, no scratching, yeah I can’t but share whatever I’m learning you never know who’ll need to know, and slotted in a glazing clip then tried to lift the edge to add another and couldn’t because one clip held it as tight as the mass of putty. So, lesson learned the clips are good.

Raised about four inches, might put the marble edges I have stuck around there to make a wider step.

It’s not all trash DIY.

The high walls protect a lot, lost only a few tulips.

Honesty looking lovely on the one sunny day, half day, we got.

Sand in the cracks is good here.

Now, you might say that having the clips is enough, but I never stop learning and guess what? The W clips they come in various shapes, seems to be in relation to the thickness of the pane and no one ever says what size they are for, just the measurements which is bewildering. I’ve found Perspex that’ll do the roof, still half cost, so that’s my next saving goal. Now that I’ve carefully bored you to de…I mean lead you to thinking about roofing panels here’s the twist, when I cleaned out the putty under the panes along the gutter, there’s no slot to hold it and they needed to stay put, I found there is a hole. A hole, Dear Reader that is there to allow you to screw the panels on! In all the time I had this greenhouse they’ve been covered so I had no idea. It makes sense, wish the whole frame had holes for securing, but this is great, silly it was obscured for so long, but great.

Stones are mucky, but there was so much there I wasn’t burying them and buying more.

There was a part that went up so steep I kept almost falling.

Things are good, but the weather dampens my spirits.

Sand works so well for this.

Going to see if I can get metal poles to set up a proper windbreak, temporary works better than none at all though.

It’s not all storms and plastics, Dear Reader, no it’s also rubble and sand and me trying to figure out how to even out a lumpy slope. The En Suite Garden was the main knotweed source, been mostly dormant for a year or two now, but it was all stack blocks and pots holding each other up so I figured I’d try to level it a bit. There was no plan bar that, you can’t take a lumpy trash heap, topped with old wood and plastic, covered in matting and stones and work it neatly. I just had a vague idea and somehow after shifting blocks around it took shape, I’m mostly finished, drenched trying to get it done fast before more DIYing inside, need a few more bags of stones and maybe a little edge at the step up for, yeah, masks, I could lie, but where else can they go, Dear Reader? Like the Secret Garden I can remove pots and put them in without a domino effect and that’s what’s important. The weather remains awful, but I will not be deterred. For now I read up on glazing and whatever else I may need. I’ll be back later, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

Not much different and a little grimy due to the rain, but I’m happy with it.

Still likely to be the first outdoor blooming rose.

Apple blossoms are lovely, even in the storms the bees were out.

I wanted a rockery, then I had no clue what that would be like but this worked. Bottomless pots and sand.

The Fall of Beelzebub

Plum trees looking healthy.

On sunny days it’s a tonic.

Stay in magnolia until the storm passes.

Thought that was a variegated yellow at first.

Hanging baskets are still blooming.

The blocks fell and Beelzebub went horns first into the dirt, they had to be restuck in three places, but somehow he was fine. Now moved.

Second flowering currant.

Lilac getting ready to bloom.

Buddleia because I need another? I guess.

Yo, Dear Reader, you know I’ve honestly been feeling I’m repeating myself a lot in these posts, but after so much rain we’re now faced with another storm warning and it’s April, we’ve never had a year this bad for growing, we’ve had bad weather, but no so constituently bad, so, yeah, I’m repeating and angry and stressed. Hence the posting about the good parts. I’m just after doing three days of repainting and cleaning up the bathroom, Jack of all trades, geddit?, which is old and needed a lot of work, me too to be honest, was hoping to get out and garden, but no. I have supplies in to tackle the greenhouse if it does get damaged, somehow tracked down full panes at half the price with free shipping, in Northern Ireland which my searches for Ireland excluded, silly colonist nonsense, but whether it be Catholic Perspex or Protestant Perspex my non-denominational greenhouse will be less stressful a thought when the winds hit. I’ve lost just three panes in eight or so years, but still I’m going to be prepared.

You may remember baby amaryllis.

From saved seeds to baby bulb in three-ish years.

Will need to repot sooner rather than later.

Heuchera regrown from as stems I found in the skips years ago, hasn’t gotten very big.

Hydrangea I found in the skip, took a year or two to start growing properly, they’re so forced as to be disposable, not to me because I’m eternally patient.

Raspberry in with the rose.

Later blooms in that bed.

Removed the edging and that goes to level the back.

Water feeders seem to be being used.

I have plans if the weather ever picks up, haven’t even planted much which is very telling, I’d plant at any time if there was the barest bit of heat, to clean up the En Suite Garden, more sand to level, block and rubble too and I have to figure out what way it’s assembled, I somehow balance a bunch of blocks to make a stand and I honest for got about that, Dear Reader, you just get accustomed to things and forget how they came about. Ideally I’ll haul out the pots, blocks and stones, which I laid heavily to hopefully even it out, to middling success, and then get a border of blocks, yes partly for masks, and also to even and make sure that he knotweed is staying dormant. Hardest part is there’s a slant near the fire pit where I couldn’t get the junk out. Naturally I’ll be doing more thinking than doing for a few, but planning helps.

Thickening up really fast.

There are a lot of flowers about thankfully.

Flowering currant, blurry due to wind that wouldn’t let up.

Onion trough is Garlic Chives, Welsh Onion and Chives and a missing bit. Should use them, but I can’t tolerate much extra onion from what I normally use.

Rosemary buds.

So much life, but must be tough on them right now.

You can walk through clouds of insects on a warm day.

Snakeshead remains cool looking.

The one nice thing is whenever there is a little sun the garden is awash with bees and drone flies, which keep landing on my and flying away. Getting hugged by a bee does the soul good, Dear Reader. I’m scouting the garden for wildflowers and trees worth keeping, while trying to keep the invasive ones down. I know I’m repeating, but the weather really is doing a number on every aspect of the garden. I’m trying to be prepared for anything, but it feels like rain is a given and storms are beating sun these days. I might be the latest year for starting and this will cause issues with the over-wintered plants, garlic looks okay, but I’ve seen it much better for this time of year. Spare a thought for my poor nerves when the storm comes I have everything sealed and tied down, even a windbreak in the hedge gap, but it’s a worry, worse when you can’t even start, but you have to keep watch constantly as time ticks by. Here’s hoping for better weather and better posts, Dear Reader. I’ll be back again soon, until then stay safe and take care.

Playing a lot of “What Is This?”.

Rose indoors is being strange, never saw a bud, but must’ve missed it.

Rare red rose is growing at least. More than can be said for the original.

Back rose is bursting out in the middle more and more.

We really need sun and peace.

No, stay in there bud.

They’re all over.

Tayberry has wrapped around that so I guess I’m not moving that.

Shovel, Smash and Repeat

Super old peony is back. One of three pots at this point.

Teeny cherry blossoms.

Found a bunch of these in a strawberry pot, can’t ID yet so repotted to see to later.

Hot enough in the growhouse for the saved runner beans!

Kiwi is back, would love to see it flower.

Good old apples…well, young apples.

Forgot about the saskatoon berry.

Not much slug damage despite the wet thankfully.

Still not sure what this tree is, never seen the cones fully form either.

I guess I do do a lot.

Yo, Dear Reader, we’ve been graced by two days of mostly sunny weather and I’ve been busy as I can be because it’s likely to vanish soon. I like that the garden has a lot of common tasks and then occasionally I head out with a sledgehammer to smash the path edging, finally after years of stepping over it while carrying heavy pots I just gave in. Handily the rubble has a use in the revamp of the En Suite Garden, going to take a while, but won’t be as much work as the Secret Garden was. Mostly I just want a slightly more level patch so sand, broken blocks and rubble as a base and a double check on the edges for knotweed because I am ever vigilant, Dear Reader.

I have no clue which orchid that is right now.

Insects are everywhere.

Think I know this, yellow flowering bush. I’ll grow it for a while.

Apple tree are budding.

The red bracts are so velvety.

Cheap and plentiful is best when planting.

Champagne rhubarb looking alien.

Tulips and a wild rose.

Ah, wild raspberry, but in the firepit so it’s fine.

Things have been stop and start so much that I’m actually having to slow down because I’m desperate to get everything done in the limited sunshine time, even the farmers are worried so I’m not just being paranoid. Right down it’s flowers, bees and weeds, the weeds never stop, but at least I’m searching for the worthwhile wildflowers in among them. I am getting closer to masks too, even snagged a potting table going cheap, though I did have to carry it all the way home. This is the point where my supplies start to dwindle, but I had a good year last year so I’m still eating better than the season. Even had two people comment on the jams, five months later. Good food, grown and prepared with care can’t be beaten, Dear Reader.

I like orchids I guess.

The garden really is full of flowers, I’m just used to it I guess.

Garlic is either sprouting or mouldy, I put it around to let it go wild and clump to deter pests or help bees, whatever.

The scent of hyacinth is everywhere.

Glad I took some of this, small, but pretty.

Heartening to see so much life.

Wild raspberry, might keep it.

Oak poking out.

Covering the currants never helped so I’ll just smack aphids off them and let the bees have the flowers.

Just calling them Christmas Trees.

Right now I’m doing a bit of everything, getting the big squash pots emptied and filled with more compost from the bin, the soil is so, so dark and rich and trying to figure the best order to do things in, while battling the weather of course. I’ve learned a lot over the years, and continue to do so, Dear Reader, I won’t ever stop learning, and have settled into a familiar routine, not that it’s boring, rather it’s comforting to know what to do in so many situations, both positive and negative. These days it’s mostly just me and whoever sees these pots, which suits me more and more if I’m honest. I’m hoping we see short sleeve weather sooner rather than later, we’ve had more than enough rain. I’ll be back again soon, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

I haven’t seen the hazel grow much yet, this is the second year from seed so it’ll be fun.

A little rain beaten, but so pretty.

Crab Apple tree is much later…think it’s a crab apple.

If it fails to flower this year outside it goes.

Silly idea comes out great.

Honesty is rather nice actually.

Naru’s Garden always has flowers.

Old onion or garlic that as formed a clump, might protect the apple trees so it stays.

So many tulips.

Currants are great mixed with other fruits in jam and sauces.

Small but striking.

Strawberry Barrel Saga

Spare tomatoes have started inside the greenhouse.

Honesty Plant is underwhelming, supposedly the seed pots are pretty.

A dog shaped cloud appeared after I made the barrel.

Front lilac is common lilac I think.

Ah, dark geranium came back!

I should’ve marked it, but eyeballing worked, there’s a natural line on the barrel too.

Sanded the edges, but still needed a little protection.

Yo, Dear Reader, things are still stop and start, more stop than start really. I mean I’m out year round regardless, but I’d like to be out in seasonal weather rather than this whiplash changes on the hour. Naturally I’m keeping myself busy with anything, one thing I’ve probably had in my head as a vague idea for years is a better strawberry barrel. Now I say it a lot, but things are expensive and busting up a costly barrel would be silly, but funnily my local supermarket had a deal on unfinished rain butts, no holes, no tap or stand, but cheap. So, naturally I walk out in a storm and bring it and my shopping home. Balancing doing and not doing is hard, Dear Reader, I’m doing my best.

Bulb hanging baskets were a good idea after all.

I figure it’s hot enough for cabbage.

Fried eggs is all I ever see.

White magnolias is so pretty.

Need to let the onions establish before I can weed, also need it not to be blowing freezing cold air at me.

Oh, yeah, the day before I was digging a neighbour’s soil into bags, needed sifting and mixing.

Yet another dog, paws out, lying down.

You’d think with all the pots I have I’d have too many, but no, exactly eighteen.

Now, you’d likely hang about and plan it out, but as I say I’ve had it in mind and the next day out came the holesaw, which falls apart a lot, and drill and after a little thinking I punched eighteen holes into the barrel. Well, there was a lot of running in from the rain and catching the spinning blade after it had finished sailing around inside the barrel, but there it was, pretty tidy really. Then came me searching for eighteen pots of equal diameter, which somehow I did. The idea being to keep the plants out a little so when the soil shrink it won’t pull them inside and away from the holes. Then, though sore from lugging that barrel half a mile the prior day I went to get a tyre that had been dumped weeks ago for a base. So far it had cost me twenty Euro.

Cheap flower seeds in the greenhouse have started, handy way to figure out how warm it is in there.

Despite the rain there isn’t much slug damage.

It’s pretty in the sun.

I take photos as a record and to remind me how well things are growing.

Every year I’m amazed things are alive.

As they establish I’ll shove them back in.

Pretty, but a little hidden.

Baby garlic, might need a repot actually.

Now, I had my barrel prepped and had some berries already growing, then I made a blunder, I’m not too proud to admit that, Dear Reader since it’s also a teachable moment. I put the plants in the lower layer just sitting in and put the lid on to stop it washing them and the soil out, then I realised that I should grow them in the pots first, sitting bottomless in trays, until the plants filled the pot so I could insert and block the hole. Out they went, in went the soil in a bag to keep the barrel from flying away, off I went to get a missing pot, turns out it went in the bin somehow, and into the trays. The worst is yet to come, Dear Reader, now I wait a few months. This way is far better, but naturally it’d be nice to see it all ready to go. I have a few more strawberries around I could take, but I’ll leave these for now. Hoping to get rhubarb to put in the top when it’s all filled. Slow, but steady, Dear Reader, which sucks when everything is slow, but it’ll be a better barrel this way. So far I have spent twenty Euro, the rest was junk or my own plants. Hopefully in a few months it’ll really start to take shape. I’ll be back again later, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

Champagne rhubarb looks good this year. Third year I’d guess.

Even the insects are confused, many are flying to me, like getting a hug.

Tyre filled with stones again. Dumping is seen as fine, but cleaning up and reusing is odd apparently.

That’s going to swallow the wall in time, it’ll be beautiful.

Needed a soap spray for aphids. Need to watch the basil too this year.

Beware The Ehs of March

Teeny cherry blossoms.

All the coffee really seems to have taken care of much of the slugs, a few years ago these’d be swiss cheese.

Peony from last year, the really cheap one.

Hardy kiwi is back. Might be the third year?

The muscari are surprisingly nice when planted in bulk.

The firepit looks well, think the clematis is gone, but there are wild raspberries in there.

See? One came in as I was taking the photo.

Really want to go gather plants again.

Yo, Dear Reader, the weather has stayed pretty awful, overcast in the extreme, it’s jarring because you sometimes get a little sunshine and then back you go, or worse you get strong winds, it’s the whiplash between the days that’s really wrecking any plans. I’d swear that I put in the new greenhouse panes a few weeks ago and then realise it was only six days ago. I have been learning so, so much in searching out more acrylic panes, Dear Reader, I do say i never stop learning and it will pay off, I’d just like some Spring warmth over a few days rather than a few hours.

The roses are really filling out.

Ah, the French lavender, tulip and hazel pot.

Oldest rhubarb, this year I take a chunk to regrow in a pot.

So scented, but so far down.

Back rose seems to be growing thickly there, started at the far wall, but it seems to have set roots down in other spots.

Greenish tulips are never quite green enough to be striking.

Old English holly, literally ripped from a grave top, that was ripped from a grave and dumped, I have some morals.

So, I’ll try to be more upbeat, one thing I have been doing over the last century or week, whatever, is watching the bees, possibly both bees and hoverflies that look like bees, or according to various sources bees that look like hoverflies that look like bees, they’re all pollinators so I’m happy regardless. They’ve been gathering in The Secret Garden, so much I had several photos on the go and then had a quartet today that just took away the need for the rest, I have the water feeders out again and am figuring out what flowers earliest for next year. I think the two bird-dropped willows will be potted for bees.

Looking at this holly tree and it seems smoother than it was, I know they change, but it might be the tye of holly. Possibly Chinese.

Wild fried egg.

Over two years later the baby amaryllis are still growing…very slowly.

One solo peach tulip over Naru’s Garden.

The back lilac looks different from the front, different varieties I guess, this is more tree like.

Lily, Turkish maybe, and SPRURGE…sorry.

I always forgot how fast lilies emerge.

Orb fell, orb became skull hand orb.

Such fun to watch emerge.

Naturally it isn’t just about bees, Dear Reader, it’s also about seeds, but as I’m currently waiting on more heat that’s going to be a later conversation. I have put down beans in the grow-house and now cheap flower seeds in the grow-house in the greenhouse…the garden is many, many layers all trying to grow everything possible. This might be the first year in a while I went so far for flowers, usually I could buy local, but the one store that kept their plants really well has shut down and the rest are in supermarkets that toss them onto the shelves and leave them to die. I like flowers of course, but space for germination being at a premium I opt for food over flowers, the grow-house is giving me more, but I’ll have to see how it fares heat retention wise.

Possibly a lily or an anomalous peony.

First bloom for the white, a surprise to me, magnolia.

Cheap tulips in plentiful supplies are much better than a few expensive ones.

Older hyacinths doing surpringly well.

Serendipitous coordination.

Tree lily.

Back rose is too chaotic to track the growth of.

No matter how common they are I love to see them.

Painted Harlequin remains a work of art.

Things aren’t wildly interesting right now I admit, Dear Reader, patience pays in the long run, but isn’t conducive to engaging posts. Mostly I’m looking up a lot of things, glazing and suppliers of acrylic being the main one, we relied on Britain for everything and now it’s the EU and their one type of polycarbonate, small island and all that, it’d be better if I had a car, but I refuse to give in, Dear Reader. Still, I have learned a lot over the years, some out of interest, much out necessity, you just don’t always realise it. I’m out identifying wild plants by eye and actually remembering names these days, mostly, it’s been maybe a decade of this and I never thought this is what I’d be doing.

Too busy to wait for the heads to rise I just stick the camera under.

They’re such a welcome sight.

A common sight as they’re super cheap each year.

Turns out this is another geranium.

Campion grew in a squash pot, I’ll repot for now and then put it into the front.

That looks pretty neat actually.

Raised up on an old feeding trough.

The garden is always a work in progress, I’m always trying to figure out what’s best, not what’s prescribed as best. I want real diversity in everything that lives here, equal respect for the beautiful parts and the equally useful ugly ones. I hope this year like every other brings something unexpectedly good and unique, also hoping I can keep scrounging up plants and supplies, Dear Reader, and making things last as long as possible. The work pays off, I know that, Dear Reader, but at times when things out of my control seem to be conspiring against my efforts I just have to remember to look around at everything striving too and if all else I’ll go the the Secret Garden and hang with the bees. I’ll be back again, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

Small, but strongly scented.

Somethings been eating them before they even budded.

Hard to tell, but the outer edge is a lighter yellow.

Odds and ends all over as it should be.

Swamp lily is back.

For a boredom induced supermarket trip last year these look good.

Wish I could leave them potted when they go back, but I need the pots.

Use to be too near the field, now after so many storms it’s too far from the field.