Planting Out and Planting Up

All the wood chipping we have done recently in the woods has revealed quite a few large areas which are clear of grass and weeds. These are the places where we really want to try to create some spring colour we can enjoy before the deciduous trees begin to explode into leaf.

We started with a few bargain wild primroses (ie a bit pot bound and not flowering) along with bunches of bluebells and grape hyacinths relocated from the garden to try to naturalise this little spot. I'm not sure they'll all flower this year but next year they should be established and produce a beautiful spring display.

These are the acorns I collected before we moved house about 18 months ago. They look a bit mossy as they've been in these pots since the autumn but are now ready to go to their permanent homes. I know they are really slow growing but they seem to be doing well so far and I hope they will thrive and eventually grow into sturdy trees.

The seeds have been germinating and starting to grow well and the time has come to start pricking out and potting up. Above is a picture of the second lot of seedlings in the smallest pots I use. These were a little fiddly at first, some look so small and delicate that I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed that they survive.

These little flower seedlings were the first lot in the tiny pots, I grew them on for a couple of weeks before potting up to these slightly larger and deeper pots, they're starting to look almost like proper plants. Pondering over these pictures makes me wonder where on earth we're going to position all these flowers if they manage to grow into full size plants. I may have got a little bit carried away with the seed sowing - oops. I keep telling M that it's ok because lots of them will be going in the cut flower bed!

I've never grow Nasturtiums before so I decided to try by making 2 sowings about 2 weeks apart. They didn't all germinate but there are 8 from the first sowing and 5 from the second. The small ones are 2 weeks old with the larger ones about 4 weeks old.

I have 22 tomato plants so far but have been really disappointed that my Sungold and Gardeners' Delight didn't germinate and so only have one of each of them. The angle of the sun is giving them a rather washed out appearance but despite my poor photography skills they are pretty healthy. I have done a second sowing of Sungold and Gardeners' Delight so we'll have to wait and see how they do. Likewise the jalapeno and sweet pepper seeds have suffered from erratic germination so I'm not sure how many of these we'll have this year.

I'm not quite sure why I've taken this at a rather strange angle but this is our collection of broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower growing on a bit before being planted outside.

This is my lemon tree, well actually my second lemon tree as the first one only lasted a couple of years before giving up the ghost. This one was beginning to head the same way (with no leaves or fruit) until last year when it took up residence in the corner of the greenhouse. Fresh compost and a better watering regime seems to have saved it and I'm delighted to see new leaves starting to unfurl already. You never know we may even get some fruit again.

I always enjoy this part of the year as the seedlings are growing and the greenhouse is gradually filling up before the risk of frost passes and they can be moved/planted outside. The peas and beans are getting quite tall (middle shelf right) and it won't be long until they go to the raised veg bed. That may be a few weeks yet as we are in a period of sunny days combined with very cold nights. As always it is the anticipation of summer, a kaleidoscope of colour in the garden accompanied by a harvest of fresh fruit and veg which drives us on to make the most of each and every day.

Easter Holidays

Easter holidays are normally a time for us to relax around the house and garden, a time for reflection and recharging. Not this year! We had a big job to tackle but I'm hoping that this is not going to become an annual activity.

The woods had become covered with fallen branches and twigs and although we collected a lot last year for fire wood there was too much for us to use. So, after a little searching, we hired a wood chipper in the hope that we could have a mass tidy up. We found a wonderful local hire store who let us have the chipper for an extra few days over the Easter weekend for free. A few days before the chipper arrived we started to gather the sticks and branches into piles, hoping this would speed things along.

There have been lots of little seedlings appearing around the woods and we thought we'd try to rescue some before we started trampling all over them. Having no idea what they are it could be interesting to see what they grow into, M was joking that they are probably weeds we have just rescued.

And so it began, I was amazed by the speed we were able to work through the piles of wood, the chipper could take up to 7mm diameter sticks so pretty much everything we had went in. The time consuming part was raking up the little twigs and getting them lifted up without spilling everywhere.

After 2 days work we had completed the smallest area and were pretty pleased with the results. Unfortunately the chipper was really noisy so Jess and Finn had to spend the majority of the time inside but obviously came out to check our progress. Although the little piles of wood chip seem disappointingly small given how much wood we gathered, we're hoping all the seedlings and bluebells will now be able to get some light to grow up big and strong.

I'm not sure if we had underestimated the magnitude of the task but on we pushed, literally dragging the chipper through to the next bit of the woods. M was in charge of operating the chipper and I made piles and piles of wood. Our Fitbits were definitely working overtime as we walked an average of about 12km each day.

By the time we got Easter Saturday (day 5) it was clear that we would not be able to drag the chipper any further into the woods. Thankfully we were able to use the quad and trailer to move the wood bundles out to the chipper at the edge of the trees.

This is just one of many many trailer loads. Again, I was in charge of collecting and M was driving the quad and master machine operator.

Slowly the wood chippings started to grow and we could see a little bit of progress. The sun is shining here and after a couple of days we were starting to get a bit of a suntan, if not windburn, but only from the neck up.

This has got to be one of the worst photos of me ever, pretty much done in at the end of day 3 (only half way through) then. Each day we were completely exhausted, I remember how sore my feet were when I removed my boots and put on my supposedly soft slippers and tried to walk into the kitchen - ouch! It sounds like such a simple job of wondering around picking up sticks and putting them together to get collected in the trailer. But then you realised that you are bending over every other step and because of the long unwieldy shapes you can only carry a few at a time, negotiating the trees to get to the piles. Anyway, we're not complaining, it was physically tiring but very satisfying work. Thankfully Easter Sunday arrived at just the right time for us to take a day off.

Easter Monday was the last day we had set aside for chipping as the chipper needed to be cleaned before collection on the Tuesday. We didn't quite manage to clear the whole lot but concentrated on the biggest branches, leaving some sticks for the wildlife and hedgehogs and some for collection next year for firewood.

Not a bad few days work. An added bonus has been that all this exercise has completely cured my 2 frozen shoulders which have been causing me a lot of pain for about 8 months. We're hoping for a rest now but the days are getting longer, weather is slowly improving, the seedlings are growing and there is just so much to get on with. Where ever you are I hope you all had a lovely and hopefully relaxing Easter break.

Playing Catch Up Pt3

It's the last instalment in the Catch Up series which I really must finish before I get further behind again; now we have made it to the beginning of April.

Following all my seed sowing in March it was time to prick out the little seedlings and get them into small pots with a bit more compost and room for growth. I used quite a variety of small seed trays and cells or basically anything I have to hand but these little pots have proved really useful for the second phase of growing.

I pricked out these Nasturtiums into slightly bigger pots as although they look tiny here they had a bigger root system than the other seedlings. I've never grow these before so I'm on a steep learning curve and sometimes it feels like I'm making it up as I go along. We'll see how they get on.

For years now I have always sown my tomato, pepper and Jalapeno seeds in this neat little heated windowsill Super 7 propagator. It means I can give then a little more care and attention in the early days and then prick out the seedlings when they are ready.

So that's the first lot of tomato plants potted up. They look really small here but they've been buried deeper in the compost to help produce a stronger and more fruitful plant. They also seem to huff for a few days after re-potting but they'll soon pick up again. I have 7 different varieties here but am still waiting for my stalwart Sungold and Gardeners' Delight to germinate.

I was really dismayed to find that my pea and bean seeds had not survived the damp winter particularly well but as I hate waste I thought I'd give them a go and have been pleasantly surprised by the results. Three varieties of peas and one of broad beans with a few more still germinating.

Yet another willow to add to our collection, another cheapy supermarket buy and this time a twisted willow. You may guess by now that we have a lot of wet/marshy areas and so willow is the plant of choice. We also bought 3 final fruit trees for the orchard, an apple, pear and plum; if they become established then I think that's it for fruit trees.

We were blessed with some lovely warm and sunny days at the start of April and as the ground dried out it was time for M to get on the mower and check it still worked. After a quick zoom around with the mower and grass clippers the orchard looked so much better after it's winter sleep.

As the sun has started to shine so the salad crop has started to grow, the lettuce and rocket will take quite a few more weeks to mature but the radish should be ready soon-ish.

Last year M decided to revamp this area of the garden. We have no idea what was here before but the whole area was covered in stones with 3 Silver Birch trees planted to the right hand side. After much hard work (by M) there were larger rocks in place and a flowerbed dug over. With the good weather the flowerbed had a top dressing of compost and we (finally) planted out some of the perennials we got last year.

This was another of M's projects last year, the new flowerbed in the garden. The sunshine persuaded me to get out there and weed it, preparing it for new arrivals. It looks really empty just now as the bulbs are only starting to appear. Some of the plants (Lavender and Pelargonium) didn't survive the winter and will have to go, hopefully we will have lots of new plants to replace them soon.

It nice to finish on such a happy note, enjoying the sunshine and the garden when it's time to put your feet up and relax, just for a minute or two of course!