Sunny

Some beautiful warm sunny weather encouraged us to have a cream tea on the plot and look who joined us 🙂 There were also brimstone butterflies, more peacock butterflies and lots of bumblebees - a proper feel of Spring.

We’ve had a productive week. We went shopping and bought lots of seeds for the year - some gifted seeds in there too. We have a few left-overs which we didn’t bother re-buying this year.

They’re all pretty basic, nothing very exciting but hopefully that means they’re easy growers… And we’ve started sowing! There are 3 pepper seeds in each section - two types of pepper which will stay at home at least till they germinate, which may be 3 weeks.

Bequinho Red and California Wonder Peppers

If successful some of these will grow in one of the new raised beds that are now in the polytunnel. It was a lot of work clearing and tidying the polytunnel then filling the beds with layers of rotted wood chip, chicken manure and Apsley mulch - they’ll be topped off with tomato bags when we’re ready to plant.

Good timing for another warm day yesterday - 60 perennial plug plants were delivered in the morning - on sale for £10 from Dobies - they’re so teeny weeny, each seedling + pot measures at most 6cm tall!

We both found it rather therapeutic potting them on sitting in the sunshine. I was careful to label them, but I think a couple of labels got mixed up 🙄 I’m sure it’ll be obvious once they’ve grown a bit…

I don’t expect we’ll keep them all, but I’d like a new flower bed where all those pots are being stored, so will see if that plan works out. 

These are the varieties (pasted from the Dobies site as I’ll need this info later):

• Achillea millefolium 'Cerise Queen' - Easy to grow, even on poor dry soils, and ideal for wildlife gardens where it attracts butterflies and other insects. Height: 60cm (24"). Spread: 60cm (24").
• Aquilegia caerulea ‘Mrs Scott Elliot Mixed' - Nodding spurred blooms, in a range of pretty colours are carried delicately on tall wiry stems. Height: 60cm (24"). Spread: 40cm (16").
• Coreopsis 'Golden Joy' - Easy to grow, low maintenance and will grow in most soil types and environments. Height: 45cm (18"). Spread: 40cm (16").
• Delphinium ‘Dark Blue & White Bee’ - Intense dark blue flowers, each with an unusual white "bee" shape at the centre! Height: 90cm (36"). Spread: 30cm (12").
• Dianthus barbatus ‘Rockin Red’ - This new interspecific hybrid brings the strongest shade of red we’ve seen in a Sweet William. Height: 50cm (20"). Spread: 30cm (12").
• Foxglove ‘Dalmatian Mixed’ - These short lived perennials will happily seed about to create dramatic drifts and attract wildlife to their nectar rich flowers. Height: 50cm (20"). Spread: 40cm (16").
• Geum ‘Mrs J. Bradshaw’ - Well-loved and consistently popular, this variety bears flame-red, semi-double blooms on thin wiry stems. Height and spread: 60cm (24").
• Leucanthemum ‘Crazy Daisy’ - Wonderfully frilly, white, daisy-like blooms with soft buttery yellow centres that perch on upright stems. Height: 60cm (24"). Spread: 45cm (18").
• Lobelia cardinalis ‘Queen Victoria’ - Tall spikes of deep maroon foliage topped by glowing scarlet blooms bring a welcome splash of late summer colour, when many flowers have already faded. Height: 90cm (36"). Spread: 30cm (12").
• Verbena ‘Buenos Aires’ - The long lasting blooms of the stunning variety are guaranteed to attract clouds of bees and butterflies into your garden. Height: 120cm (48"). Spread: 60cm (24").

Feeling rejuvenated by the Sun (but slightly regretting it today!) I also did a bit of digging and a little sowing too; 3 pots of heirloom sweetpeas - taller pots to help with their long tap roots.

And a drainpipe of Snow Wind mangetout - a drainpipe for ease of planting without damaging the roots. These are meant to be self-supporting but I intend to grow them with the sweetpeas.

There was a touch of frost last night but all those should be okay in the polytunnel. We had a little walk this morning, but it’s not as nice as the last couple of days so we didn’t go to the plot. I potted on a couple of little house plants - they’re meant to be ‘very easily maintained’, both want to dry out completely between watering and like a warmer climate (like us).  The Ceropegia Woodii aka String of Hearts should fill out and can be a lovely looking plant. Hmm, I wonder …

That’s all for now. Enjoy the lovely song by Bobby Hebb - can’t believe I’ve not used this before!