After a productive morning in the garden I now present my #SixOnSaturday. And it is not quite as I anticipated. My plan was to sow a few seeds and get the pruning of those blackcurrant bushes finished off. It was a frosty start so I thought a light brushing down of a few cobwebs in the potting shed would be a good warm up.
One
We all have our favourite tools and for me brushing down the cobwebs is done with the old brown brush. First I had to find it. So the rickety old shed was emptied out. The brush was found about half way through the emptying but I’d started so I had to finish. First job of the day turned out to be a spring clean of the shed. The second job – look away now if you are faint-hearted – was also shed related. If you are ready, read on.
Two
The dangers of plastic bags to wildlife are much in the news and I can only think that this rat fell foul of one my garden refuse bags. I’m not a great fan of sheds at the best of times and my survival instincts were on the alert for large spiders. I was not expecting to find this. But it was dead, recently so I think, and so I coped rather well. Disposed of it, had a cup of tea and with nerves steadied, moved on to brush down those cobwebs.
Three
Whilst I had my feet up in January, those more resilient than I were washing down greenhouses, washing up pots and scrubbing plant labels clean. Well today I made a start on a few of those jobs in preparation for a little bit of seed sowing. Once some of those jobs were done, sweet pea Black Knight, Gwendoline and Anniversary were planted in root trainers and the first rocket seeds were planted in modules. I decided against planting the half hardy antirrhinums as the greenhouse is on the cold side and I think they can wait until early March. As a bonus I’ve included the latest photos of the autumn sown love-in-a-mist and end of summer penstemon cuttings.
Four
I sowed the love-in-mist in seed trays and when I potted them on I took the chance of planting a few directly into the soil. They have survived the winter so far. In the background is one of the foxgloves sown from seed last year and planted out at the same time. The foxglove should be in flower this year.
Five
A little dot of colour to end on. The first of the anemones has pushed through and opened out. I had thought the autumn mulch had buried them, but one or two are beginning to appear.
Six
The half price tray of white cyclamen bought a while ago are evolving. They have begun to take a gentle pink blush. I wasn’t expecting this either but I find it far preferable to the dead rat.
For more garden excitement from around the world go to The Propagator for this week’s links to a lovely selection of six on saturday, generally horticulturally related but with the occasional meander off the garden path.
n20gardener 
Better one dead rat than a family of lives ones under the shed where you can’t get them. Did the blackcurrant bushes get done in the end?
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I had much the same thought. Surely there must be more of them !! And the blackcurrant bushes are still only half done! On the list for tomorrow.
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Poor rat! And poor you too. Not a nice surprise at all. The cyclamen is much better
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How I laughed at your description of starting one task, only to be derailed by the need for attending to another task (and so on). This happens to me all the time. For sure, a white/pink cyclamen is better than a dead rat. 🙂
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Getting derailed is the story of my gardening life. I just can’t stay focused!!
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Was that a rat? I saw it as a tiny wee mouse. Either way, I think I’d prefer the cyclamen, too regardless the colour. My first experience of nigella was a self seeder on my compost heap. They self seed every year w/o problem. Sometimes I scatter seeds in places I might like them or in the potted trees for colour & that great foliage. I usually do this right after they seed. I never once thought they might be too tender for that sort of indifference!
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Wow, beautiful cyclamen’s picture !… ( not that of the rat but like Jim said, only one is better than a family…)
About the anemone, this color is absent among mine, I just have reds and whites .
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Thanks Fred. I’ll be catching up with my reading tomorrow.
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Oh, cyclamen. I hate to discard them as cool season annuals. We will be taking ours out to plant in the forest to let them do what they want to. It would be nice to get a bed of cyclamen where the old ‘annuls’ could retire. We do not have many, so it would take years for a bed to get full.
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I’ve put mine in the wrong place! They are underplanting a hydrangea and they just don’t look right. When they have finished doing their thing I will try and find a better place for them. Perhaps under the magnolia tree.
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My first cyclamen were grown as perennials under a blue spruce tree. They regenerated every autumn, and died back every spring. I suppose I should have planted English ivy in there with them.
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Ivy and cyclamen is a definite winner in my book 👍
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You have reminded me, I must get on and plant some rocket.
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Always good to have reminders!
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You have reminded me I need to sort the garage out! And the dead rat puts me off again from sorting it out! Lovely seedling too 👍
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Ah! The wonderful feeling you get on the day after the shed’s had its annual sort out. The only day in the year when you can actually get into it! As I scrolled down past the warning of what was to come, I had visions of you discovering that the shed was only held up by the pile of stuff inside it and, after losing this support, had fallen down to the rat (dead variety) was a pleasant surprise! 😉
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My shed is very much as you imagine, but rotting from the bottom up! I have a semi circle of stuff I need around the door and then a hoarder’s collection of other stuff beyond.
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That anemone is beautiful. And early!
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I can’t ever imagine sorting out my shed and this post discourages me from trying to!
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