#lychnis

Six On Saturday: Stop whingeing

/ n20gardener / 10 Comments

I’ve been a little irritable of late. The garden is definitely pushing on but at a much slower pace than I would like. No matter how much energy I expend in muttering and moaning it will not stop dragging it’s heels. I give in, honestly. Not another word will be said on the subject. All in good time. The rain of this week will help things along and although it’s a challenge to find six things it is a challenge worth responding to. Here’s my six finds this week.

One

It’s raining this morning, so I headed off to the remaining greenhouse to see how things were going. Sometime last year I sowed seeds of echinacea ‘White Swan’ and echinacea pallida. I overwintered the seedlings in the greenhouse, in the last week they have generously responded to the rising temperatures. Most of these are pallida. Way back when I sowed them I had a clear plan, now I can’t remember it. But they will have to be on the sunny side of the garden so maybe they will help rejuvenate the thin border.

Two

Also sown last year, the seeds of lychnis coronaria. Around autumn time I potted on eight of the strongest. These have not faired well but those left in the seed tray and positively flourished and look twice as healthy! I will have a generous supply to dot around the garden.

Three

There has been plenty of sighing over lost plants but amazingly the scented leaf pellies are rising from the ashes. Just a few signs of green leaf but enough, I think, to be encouraging. I’ve just started to water them again and they will get a thorough cut back some time around the end of April.

Four

Proof that pulling the stems of climbing roses down to the horizontal really does pay off. This fills me with optimism for the months to come.

Five

There’s more signs of things to come on the weigela. Masses of lovely new leaves showing up as the shrub moves from Winter brown to Spring green.

Six

There have been so many lovely hellebores featured over the last few months. This is a simple unnamed variety which has seeded freely in the border. I think those seedlings will take a few more years to flower but in the meantime I continue to enjoy the parent plants.

In between the moaning I have kept myself busy doing those ‘must do’ jobs for this time of year. I have netted the gooseberries and blackcurrants. I’ve given them and the apple trees a sprinkling of Fish Blood and Bone, successfully timed to coincide with a healthy downpour of rain. More and more of the browness of winter has been cut back and this weekend I plan to feed all the roses. Onion sets have been started off in the greenhouse and I hope to find the time to sow some seeds of hardy annuals. I also need to settle down and plan out the thin border although those echinaceas may be potted on again before I plant them out. I need them to be strong and healthy to compete with the existing plants. I hope your garden plans are going well. More from the SOS team can be found at Jim’s place. All welcome.

Six on Saturday: Time to get going

/ n20gardener / 9 Comments

As the garden gets going it is time for the gardener to step up the pace. The beginning of March has been cold and wet here but growth continues. It is time to give the fruit trees their quarterly feed of bonemeal and the roses will receive a handful of fertiliser to propel them into abundant flowering. Having spent a week away from the garden I came back to find a very soggy lawn and wet borders. I have snowdrops to divide and the last of the herbaceous perennials to cut back. Not a seed has been sown yet but this weekend I will start the tomatoes off. Here’s six from the garden.

One

I plant the David Austin rose ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’ in 2020, in its climbing form. It has now made up to the top of the arch and the new growth is lining up nicely. I’m hoping for more of its lovely red flowers this year.

Two

I have been taking stock of what has survived the winter and I’m pleased to say that this salvia ‘Amistad’ planted against a south facing wall is just beginning to show signs of new growth. Here’s hoping it doesn’t get caught by a late frost. I have insurance in the shape of a cutting in the greenhouse which looks good too.

Three

The euphorbia oblongata has also come through unscathed. It’s described as a short lived perennial, so I should be prepared for it to fade away soon. It’s been with me for about three years, it will be interesting to see how short lived it is.

Four

No seeds sown this year but these are lychnis coronaria that I sowed last autumn. Lychnis are self seeders so these were a bit belt and braces. I will plant them out away from the parent plant, spreading a little more hot pink around the garden.

Five

I took some sage cuttings last year when the very old sage bush had a good cut back. The parent plant seems to be none the worse and the cuttings have taken.

Six

In June I will have been gardening here for six years. I inherited a large pot of strawberries that I transferred to the greenhouse in the hope of an early crop of fruit. But there they languished producing very little at all. I am finally about to dig them up and use the space for something else. The soil will need some improvement. In the meantime I have six new strawberry plants, three of ‘Cambridge Favourite’ and three of ‘Elsanta’, chosen from the limited selection available at the garden centre. Roll on Summer, I am ready!

More garden reports can be found on The Propagator’s site, where he hosts all the SOS links. Join in or simply read for pleasure. It’s a merry band.