Violet's Garden Diary

Light till nearly 8 o’clock since the clocks went forward, so Annabelle helped to spread the manure after supper. Done the front bed by the house, and about a third of the main border, using up two bags of stuff. Also put wide lawn edging down the side of the fence at the back of the border, to stop at least some of the eucalyptus roots from the neighbours invading my best manured soil and sucking up all the water…

Staked up the Choisya a bit, which had got somewhat battered by the winter storms and was all leaning over. The Imperial Lily is showing colour now, and it is indeed yellow. Looks quite good with the fence, definitely need more of them (if it comes through next winter, that is).

The Dahlias sprouted amazingly quickly, but still no sign of the peppers. Some of the aquilegia seedlings have started damping off, so took them out of the covered tray straight away. Tomatoes seem happy enough in there, gained at extra one today. Also, the purple annual poppies have germinated, with no extra cosseting at all.

Absolutely chucked down at lunchtime, turning into hail; some rather nice sunshine later on though.

De-slugged the little iris bed, and cleared out all the old leaves – the now many flower spikes were showing signs of damage, so preventative measures were urgent, before the whole lot got chomped. Wired up the fences for clematis with lattice-work of thin-gauge wire, which kept tangling horribly. Joined by bumble-bees on a couple of occasions.

Re-potted all three Hippeastrums, which had got the nasty little fruit flies in the rotting outer scales. They turned out to be reasonably sound on the inside though, so just planted them a little more proud to keep the bulb dry and well ventilated.

Had to spray the Polianthes for green-fly again, which came back despite the systemic spray. Not spraying the lettuces, hoping they’ll get over it once planted out.

Imperial Lily is showing buds, can’t remember if it was orange or yellow. Only a couple of feet tall – I thought it would be taller somehow. New daffs in the main border have opened – white with soft peachy-orange centers, works quite well. Blueberry and redcurrant both flowering. Cherry buds have opened, and the white camellia is still in flower.

Sow 12 large cells of Dahlia Unwins Dwarf Hybrids, 2 per cell, in propagator.

Pick small slugs from veg patch first thing.

Rake and cut grass. Tie in honeysuckle by the garage – growing strongly now. Plant out foxgloves in new front border.

Half the tomatoes have sprouted, and so have aquilegia. Basil is showing signs of life. No peppers yet. Sow 10 cells of Rudbeckia Rustic Dwarfs, 2-3 per cell. Feed bigger seedlings and pot plants.

Sow poppy Purple Passion in a few spare cells of the honesty tray (no cover) HA

Sow all the veggies:

• Growbag: half-row each of coriander, dill, lamb’s lettuce and mustard leaf
• Square sugar-snap tower (Ann) with
• Radish and
• Lettuce Lakeland (iceberg) edging
• Parsley in herb corner
• Own seed peas for pea shoots
• Carrot Nantes 2 next to broccoli
• Biggest bed (still has a few beetroot on one side):
  • pea Delikata (mange tout) with netting supports
  • Broad bean Optica – small seeds, quite closely spaced
  • half-row of Lobloits Cos
• Darkest, wettest bed:
  • maincrop pea Greensleeves (very low)
  • Mooli

Plant out a few Aquadulce broad beans to fill gaps.

Annabelle Helped

laid up with a bad back. Bummer.

Take Gazania and Monarda out of the propagator, as they both came up quite well. Aquilegia and salpiglossis are being a bit slow. Put in 10 small cells of tomato Sungold (1 per cell), 2 pots of pepper (2 per pot) and a pot of basil for luck. Switch it off on warm/sunny days during the day. Attempts to harden off the broad beans and foxgloves are hampered by hail and snow flurries.

Cut off eucalyptus root under the fence with new loppers – 3″ dia.

Divide the 2nd clump of pheasant-tail grass, one in pot, one further back so that the silver birch stem is visible all the way down. Remove the stake from it, and fill in the hole.

Divide the golden grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’) so that there are two symmetrical clumps. Found a lot of vine weevil grubs.

Finish painting fence!

Divide one of the Michaelmas daisy clumps, and move right into the corner behind the camellia. Move Thalictrum aquilegifolium from behind the pheasant-tail grass, which needs to move back. Evict a clump of stencilled geranium to make space for it, and divide them up into pots to sell at the school fair.

Finish clearing veg patch and laying out paths and beds in it.