Jobs in the Greenhouse and more bulbs to be planted as the cold spring drags on

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I have been busy in the Greenhouse of late. The soil in the Greenhouse works harder than perhaps any other soil on my patch and I do from time to time take some out of the beds and replace with new compost; I pretty much exclusively grow Tomatoes in the Greenhouse and they are greedy plants. A job I do every year is replenish the soil. I have added a good helping of 'pot ash', actually ash I have saved from the Chimenea and Barbecue, Chicken Manure pellets and a good sprinkling of Blood, Fish and Bone. Each is added in turn and dug in adding all sorts of nutrients back into the soil. I leave for a week or so and then the Tomato seedlings are planted into their final growing places. 

Suttons tempted me in with an email offer recently and I have another five Tower Lily Pretty Woman bulbs on their way to me as I write. It is a bit late to be planting Lily bulbs, those already in the White Border are around a foot tall, but at the special price of £2.99 for the five I could not resist! I will now have a clump of ten Tower Lily Pretty Woman in the middle at the back of the border and it is hoped they will put on a spectacular display come summer complemented by the group of three Lilium Casa Blanca at either end of the bed. With these bulbs being planted so much later it may not be breath-taking this year, in fact I should get a succession of blooms rather than one big display, but in the years to come I hope the white border will be a real stunner in the height of summer with the Chrysanthemum Silver Princess in front of the Lilies and the White Geraniums dotted about as they are below them in the front. 

Following a few days of sunshine it is wind and rain again today as I sit in my dining room writing this and the vegetable patch is looking bare compared to years gone by. It is what it is and as I say so often you simply can't rush, or fight, Mother Nature and I won't be planting out anymore more veg just yet. The Pea and Runner Bean seedlings planted out over Easter have taken a bit of a beating but are alive and will be joined in time by more seedlings; I recently sowed more Peas and Beans and they are currently germinating in the Conservatory as it is forecast to be pretty chilly again at times over the weekend and into next week, this cold spring dragging on somewhat. 

My latest scribblings for the Romford Recorder newspaper can be read here (page 34): Publications from the Romford Recorder

Cheers 🍺






Location: London Borough of Havering, UK

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