Early Summer Sun

What a wonderful time we have been having recently. After a very wet February and March we had been praying for some decent weather and oh how it arrived in style. We have now had about 4 weeks of sun, no rain, warm days and the occasional cold night. It is a very busy time in the garden, the plants are growing and we are working long and often exhausting days, but my it is also such a rewarding time.

The onions are growing slowly next to the beans which are still under protection until they are established. Despite our scrupulous efforts to remove all the potatoes last year there are tiny little potato plants emerging amongst the onions -oops.

M has built a rather large pea and bean frame as we discovered last year that the peas all collapsed on top of each other, encouraging slugs and making harvesting a real chore. It might look like overkill as the peas are so tiny right now but they should end up covering most of the framework.

So with the temperatures in the greenhouse varying between from a low of 2⁰C at night and daytime highs of 39⁰C we have had an unexpected issue. The blazing sunshine has been too much for some of the tender seedlings and for the first time ever we have installed some greenhouse shading, this is stage one with some more shading yet to go in.

It is incredible the difference a little bit of shading has made, the plants have the advantage of sun and good ventilation without frying.

I am so excited, my lemon tree which has been suffering over the past few years and had barely any leaves last year has finally got 2 minuscule flower buds appearing. I'm not really expecting fruit as it's still in recovery but it's a good sign. On the down side it seems like that some ants have set up residence in the pot so we may have to disturb Mr Lemon and repot him to remove said interlopers.

Planting up has begun in the polytunnel and so far we have a selection of squash (winter and summer), pumpkins, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. There is also room for the kale and chard along with some companion planting of nasturtiums and marigolds when they are ready.

I just have to include a picture of our flowering Rhododendron; it was new in last year and although it almost doubled in size there was not a single flower. Look we have flowers and definitely worth waiting for. The leaves have turned a bit pale and we're not sure of this is a nutrient deficiency or due to the large quantity of rain we had over the winter but we've put some feed around it so will hope for the best.

The Forget-Me-Nots (which we fittingly forgot we had planted) have been the mainstay of the garden flowerbed as it is still too risky to plant out anything tender. However, some of the Alium bulbs are starting to poke through the surface so we may have some more colour to come.

This flowerbed was submerged at various times during the winter but has recovered remarkably well. It contains lots of unidentified plants as I was particularly rubbish with my labelling system so it could either be surprisingly beautiful or painful to the eyes, we'll just have to wait and see.

M was really keen to have a Peony and this is it. It's probably well behind every other Peony in the country but it was only planted a couple of weeks ago and so has some catching up to do. For the first time we had to water the plants in the garden, I was loathe to do so but when their heads start to wilt I guess there is no other choice.

After the mower was fixed (seems like an annual event) M got stuck in around the orchard and the woods. I love these pictures as it really does show how beautiful the weather has been.

The orchard trees are so tiny and most still look like sticks but we have a few leaves arriving and have been treated to the uplifting sight of blossom on the cherries and damsons with the tantalising promise of apple blossom to come. Even the hedging is beginning to grow after the relentless prunning regime carried out by the wild rabbits.

Even Daffodil walk (although not an appropriate name once all the daffs have gone) got the mower treatment and now our little shrubs look even smaller. They are a mixture of Hydrangea, Astilbe, Amelanchier with a couple of evergreen shrubs. Everything has to be protected from rabbits and deer so they have fencing around them which is a good thing as at least we can see where they are.

The sunshine has been wonderful, it is revitalising and relaxing all at the same time and we have been enjoying every second. The weather app tells us that rain is on the way which will be welcome news for the orchard and hedging plants as the ground is bone dry and starting to crack up. The water butts, and we have lots, are nearly empty and they could do with a bit of a refill soon too. Until then though we will continue to bask in the sunshine and soak up as much vitamin D as we can.

I just had to finish off with this gorgeous picture of Ginger after her mud bath; they are having a great time in the sun and unless M creates the mud bath for them they just empty their drinking water out - rascals.