Working in the garden over the Easter Bank Holiday Weekend

 I have talked before about how you simply can’t rush Mother Nature and quite a lot on my plot is somewhat behind where I would expect it to be by late April. In years gone by I have had Runner Beans and Peas quite well established on the Vegetable Patch by late March but this year I only got the seedlings planted out over the Easter weekend, the cold nights dragging on into April. Law of the sod of course meant no sooner were the young seedlings out than we had a hail storm the next day and now, less than a week later, we have a yellow weather earning for high winds! The poor seedings are looking a bit bedraggled already but all being well will survive but the wind is whipping across the garden as I write; the bamboo screening down one side of the garden may well take off at some point! 

The Cherry Tree in my garden is often in bloom in early April but the buds have remained firmly shut and even now they are only just beginning to show signs of opening confirming that everything is a good week or two behind this year.  

The Greenhouse is full of Tomato and Butternut Squash seedlings, and they are all coming along nicely. Over the Easter weekend, as we had a few dry days, I was able to have a general potter about in the garden and plenty of compost from the compost bins was added to the Veg Patch ready for when some of the Tomatoes and the Squashes can be planted out. I cut back the Miscanthus Indian Summer grasses to the ground as the new shoots are just beginning to show and gave the Lavender a little tidy-up as they were looking somewhat battered following winter. Back in February I was able to plant the Tower Lily Pretty Woman bulbs into the white border and with a bit of moving about fill the gaps left by the three Lilium Casa Blanca that had their tops chewed off, I assume by a squirrel, last year. Hopefully I now have a line at the back of the white border that comprises of three Lilium Casa Blanca at either end with a group of five Tower Lily Pretty Woman in the middle. Chicken wire is currently in place over them as they begin to show to deter any critters that fancy a nibble; this will be removed when they reach a foot or so tall. Not for everyone I like a Lily and they create a lovely backdrop to a border, especially, as they are in my garden, up against a fence. Tower Lily Pretty Woman will grow to six-feet and hold perhaps thirty blooms whilst Lilium Casa Blanca will get to around four-feet and in July/August their huge flowers really add the wow factor to the border. A new Chrysanthemum Silver Princess was added to the White Border to fill a gap therein so I now have five plants in a line in there in front of the Lilies. I planted out the Geraniums, cuttings I took off plants last autumn and have been overwintering, the three white ones going into the front of the White Border with the three red planted into pots and placed by the house on the gravel bed. 

I mentioned previously that the top patio in my garden had, rather grandiosely began to be referred to as the Olive Patio, well another two Olives have been added in terracotta pots taking the total to five trees now. As I have said before it is a lovely place to sit with a drink in the sunshine, and half-an-hour or so was spent doing just that after a few hours work on Easter Sunday. 

Over the coming days I will be sowing more Pea Bingo and Runner Bean Scarlet Emperor seeds, the original plan so I have a succession of sowings but some of these may be required to replace some of the aforementioned battered seedlings! The two Redcurrant Jonkheer Van Tets bushes planted earlier this year are coming along nicely and the Autumn Raspberries are just beginning to show their heads above ground. The Blackberry bush is showing signs of life, that took a bit of a beating over winter but they are pretty hardly plants, whilst the Strawberry runners that I over wintered in the Greenhouse have been planted out in the Strawberry bed and an old wheelbarrow and all appear to be growing strongly thankfully. 

Fingers crossed the wind and rain forecast this week won't be as bad as predicted and soon, surely, some decent weather will arrive and the garden can fully awakes from it's winter slumber. 

Cheers 🍺