May Adventures

Today is the first day of Winter and despite the clear, frosty morning I thought it was about time I put my fingers to the keyboard and caught up with the past few months of activity on the smallholding. Here I go now all the way back to the warmer days of May.

The flowerbeds loved the early spring heatwave and were filling up nicely. The Forget-Me-Nots self seed every year and never fail to give us some spring colour.

M decided to extend the side flowerbed to include the area around one of the trees in the garden. I'd love to be able to name the tree but despite examining the fruit each year we have failed to identify them, maybe this year we would succeed.

We bought this little crab apple tree at our local nursery which was an incredible find. It was not your usual garden centre, no café, no gifts, no toys just lots and I mean lots of plants and trees.

The crab apple blossom at the beginning of May was plentiful and such a gorgeous pink.

M spent the day tidying up the main path through the woods, another day of chipping provided a fresh layer to hopefully keep the weeds at bay.

The long, sunny blue sky days gave us the opportunity to keep up with grass cutting in the orchard and trimming around the trees and veg beds.

Another trip to the local nursery and with a car full of plants we had our work cut out finding homes for them all. The woodland garden was filling up but there was room for a little Mecanopsis.

A white Viburnum found it's place in the white garden. We made the decision not to surround it with any deer defence but only time would tell if this was wise or not.

This was a further addition to the white garden, I can't remember the name but it was such a pretty flower head. It had a slightly pink tinge to the white but from a distance it was white enough to warrant its place.

We bought a few ferns started a small fernery at the end of the main path in the woods. Over the past couple of years I had also collected some small ferns and they were also big enough to be planted out. M found a few old tree stumps so this is the beginning of what we hoped would multiply over time.

Every year I've tried to work out what is my favourite season. I think Spring is probably top of my list but I have always seeing the greenhouse full to bursting with seedlings and young developing plants, not yet ready for planting out but with the promise of an abundance of flowers, fruit and veg to enjoy.

We had a little experiment this year with our onions. As usual I sowed some onion sets in cells in the autumn and overwintered them in the greenhouse before planting out in the veg bed. As a comparison I also sowed some onion sets in a similar fashion in the spring. The first 2 rows on the left were autumn sown, the rest were spring sown. Even at this early stage it was clear to see that the spring plants were much larger and healthier than the autumn ones.

I always seem to order too many potatoes and yet again this year, once the coffins were full I had to plant some in the plastic buckets.

I even had some more left over seed potatoes to fill 3 of the canvas pots. They were against the byre wall where they captured the sun during the day and were also protected from the worst of the rain.

By the middle of May it was time to get the tomatoes planted up in their grow bags in the greenhouse. Of course this involved clearing out a lot of plants to make some room.

 

Despite the high temperature in the greenhouse I managed to get the first 4 growbags of tomatoes planted up.

During the sunny days the grass moving and weeding often seemed unending but so satisfying to see everything all tidied up at the end of the day.

We moved our little Gogi plant to a new position as it had been struggling for the past 2 years and had hardly grown at all. It made me laugh when I saw it advertised in the nursery as 'easy to grow'. Hopefully the new location would give it a boost.

The beans and peas were flourishing in the polytunnel although this year we were experiencing an increase in greenfly. I was hoping that the presence of some marigolds would help to control them.

The seedlings in the greenhouse were growing well and were ready for transferring to the pots, baskets and planters around the garden.

We made a determined effort this year to grow pumpkin and squash. They had been growing vigorously in pots in the greenhouse until we thought the weather was suitable to plant them out. M cleared an area in the old winter pig pen and erected a frame/trellis to support the fruits. Unfortunately they only lasted about 3 days before they all succumbed to slugs. With time running out I sowed a few more seeds to try again.

M built a huge framework out of hazel sticks for the peas. We were hoping for a good harvest this year.

We have very few pictures of the back garden to remind us of our work there but it always looked good when it has been tidied and the grass was freshly cut.

A favourite of ours has always been Lupins but in the past we struggled to keep them alive. Another go this year in a different location would perhaps prove successful.

Making the most of the decent weather and I got the 'white garden' strimmed although the distinct lack of white flowers was not through lack of trying but mainly due to constant presence of deer and rabbits.

Approaching the end of the month the weather turned but as we sheltered in the byre we took the opportunity to plant up the simmer pots.

They looked a bit sad in the rain but we hoped they would improve as they filled out and the flowers appeared.

What a glorious way to end May, a beautiful walk at the seaside with M and the dogs, one of our favourite places in any weathers but especially on a sunny day.

April Showers

Normally as we approach Easter we expect the usual mix of sunshine and showers and often the majority of the latter. Such a surprise then that we had an unexpected mini heatwave.

The spring flowers were putting on a wonderful show and I thought it was time to get my camera out again and see if I could capture their natural unspoiled beauty. These were the reliable and delicate Thalia daffodils in the white garden. A very welcome sight after the disappointing show by the crocus and the no show of the tulips.

Through the basket defence system the fritillaria were thriving and looked even more stunning in the bright sunshine.

 

A rather poor photo of the ferns unfurling, a true sign of the woods coming back to life after a long dormant winter. A slightly better photo of another Fern coming to life.

This was one of the new daffodils we planted last year in daffodil walk . It had the most amazing flowerhead, not just the bright colour but the multi petaled flower. Unfortunately the flower was really heavy and the stem rather weak so we could only appreciate it when we lifted it up. Quite a beauty.

  

Our fledgling orchard was yet to produce any substantial harvest but it was pleasing to see the blossom being to open and hopefully our local bees would help us out with some pollination.

While M was inside working hard on the bathroom project I was enjoying the sunshine and started by getting the potatoes planted in the 'coffins'. I had a few left over so put some in the veg bed, a few plastic pots, one bath in the yard and the rest in 3 canvas pots.

Sowing seeds reached a climax in April as the greenhouse started to fill up. With the risk of frosts still around the pots of dahlias were still taking up space but would be moved outside when the weather permitted.

Much as I loved working outside, the temperature in the greenhouse was hitting 40⁰, a little bit too hot for me.

One of the most frustrating areas was Daffodil Walk where the grass was growing but we couldn't cut it and tidy it until the daffodils were over. Still we were able to enjoy the blooms poking through the lengthening grass and weeds.

Last year we bought a mixture of bulbs for the new flowerbed M created in the garden. This Fritillaria was absolutely gorgeous, I took this photo of it before I realised that the flower stem had broken and the bloom was actually hanging upside down

M took advantage of some good weather and managed a first cut if the grass in daffodil walk. He avoided the foliage of the bulbs and we were thankful it looked so much better.

 

The wonderful warm days throughout April helped the potatoes get a good start for the season. We overwintered some onions and planted them out a few weeks ago and to extend our harvest we also purchased some onion sets for spring planting. The second batch were started off in the greenhouse before being planted out. There was an obvious difference between the two plantings.

Our newest Crab Apple tree in the garden did not disappoint and was festooned with blossom although it is not clear in this photo.

By the end of the month the other Crab Apple in the orchard had some beautiful deep red blossom although the tree was much smaller than the garden variety, it will be a few years until it is the same size.

I have yet to harvest any of our wild garlic but I was thrilled to see it return this year and flower abundantly. There were a few new plants too which indicated that it had started to spread a little. The bees and butterflies couldn't get enough of the nectar.

I thought I'd finish up with a lovely photo of an Erythronium Pagoda, one of the few which survived the marauding deer and rabbits. So much to look forward to for the spring and summer ahead.

Long Gone March

I can't believe it has been so long since I last had time to sit down and write a post. Looking back I see I now have lots to catch up on and now I need to go all the way back to March. Despite the ongoing bathroom renovations we had plenty happening in the woods and the greenhouse. While M was busy indoors I was doing my best to keep things ticking over outside.

At the beginning of March we had a Storm Gareth to contend with and fortunately we only had one upturned tree.

The best thing was the fact that it just missed one of our little rhododendrons. No harm done, the tree had a few branches removed and it was possible to lift it back up again.

A visit to our local garden centre resulted in a random purchase of a Himalayan Lily bulb. Apparently they can grow to about 6ft tall although that looked unlikely given the small green shoot appearing.

In the midst of the wood shavings and plaster dust the potatoes were set out to chit. M has always wanted to grow King Edwards so we bought them along with Cara which has previously been a great success. We also thought we'd try some Blue Danube potatoes as a new variety for us. I was hoping they would go well with the purple carrots we had sown.

After all our efforts of planting in the autumn we found that the deer and rabbits were trying their best to destroy as many of the tiny new plants as possible. Sadly the Erythronium were the first to be devastated, munched down to the ground.

Next the newly planted bluebells had the rabbit chop treatment. We were hoping some would survive enough to produce some flowers but only time would tell.

As the days started to warm up so the grass began to grow and we knew it wouldn't be long until the endless days of mowing would upon us. At least M was able to concentrate on the bathroom refurbishment until then.

The 'White Garden' was not looking particularly white but there were dots of white Thalia daffodils rising above the grass. The beautiful tulips from last year did not reappear but we had high hopes for the large Joan of Arc Crocus. However, the poor crocus were obviously very much enjoyed by the wildlife so were not quite the amazing display we had planned.

Daffodil walk was beginning to live up to it's name with an increased number of blooms and quite a variety of colours. We don't plan on planting any more daffodils here but hope that with all the bulbs already planted the display should improve year in year.

At the end of March I eventually managed to complete the annual greenhouse clean. I'm not sure why it took so long this year, last year I cleaned it all in one day but this year it took me nearly 3 days. As always I was so glad when this was all done and dusted.

After all the devastation left behind by the rabbits and deer I had a bright idea whereby I could use some old hanging baskets to protect the small emerging plants. I also had some left over thin wire which I wound around them to increase the defence.

Although I knew that the baskets wouldn't protect the flowers I hoped that the main part of the plants would survive any attacks. I was thrilled when my little plan worked and we had some lovely Anemones and Fritillaria.

One of my favourite flowers at this time of year has always been the little wood anemone. We planted some a couple of years ago and although we haven't yet had a wonderful display they are increasing in number each year. They too seem to be a favourite of our local rabbits but sometimes we get to enjoy their simple pure beauty before they disappear.

I love the early days of spring when the buds appear and the trees begin to come alive after a long winter.

Although this is a pretty rubbish photo I was amazed at the abundance of flowers on the Larch this year. We put this down to having quite a mild month.

The Larch wasn't the only tree enjoying the warmer days. This pear tree (a cheapy supermarket variety) was full of blossom and looked beautiful in an otherwise sparse orchard.

I thought I'd finish off the month with some bright colour. Last year we bought a couple of large plastic barrels as the old wooden one had rotted and collapsed. We planted a variety of bulbs which would provide colour from February through to June and each barrel had a central perennial for continued interest. The inject of flowers in the garden always gives me the impetus to sow seeds and plan further for the summer and so there's the plan for April.