I hope you all have been having as beautiful weather as we have here! Disney has been making the most of the sun's warm rays. Look at him helping to warm up the flower beds! Bless him!!Our snow drops are all out in full force now, with crocus' making an appearance, and the daffy buds are finally forming and bobbing in the breeze! I think the long awaited spring is finally here!
For the first time ever I am noticing the buds appear and growing daily on the trees and shrubs, hosta's poking tentative rolls of leaves up, and all that looked barren and dead from winter slowly starting to rejuvenate. How have I not noticed this the past 26 years? The earth has never felt more magical to me, it feels really special to be aware of and play a part in it for the first time in my life!
The air is alive with bird song, and filled with the promise of what's to come when mother nature awakes fully. Hopefully she will not mind me bumbling along beside her trying to make things grow and be pretty!
But the arrival of warmer weather isn't good news for all of us! It means lots of burst pipes for the boys to fix! Here's a picture of Johnny and his apprentice in action fixing a leak sprung in spring! Liam crawls on his belly behind Johnny in the tight spaces ninja style to save the day!!
Johnny banged his head after that pic was taken. Haha!
With the sun on my back all week, the temptation grew ever stronger to get down and dirty with my plants in the soil! Like most beginners, my keenness will probably end up killing most of what I started off and nurtured all winter, but I accept this cheerfully! The lesson will have to be learnt the hard way to sink in!
All winter I spent a good few hours (and many bottles of wine) a night, poring over what went best with what, what to plant with what for easiest rotation, what would shade what..... (You get the picture!) I made the coolest plans for my beds ever on my laptop, all neatly labelled and easy to follow.... And you know what? When it came to actually planting, it all went right out the window!
It was very hard letting go of the little plants that I had nurtured and watched grow bigger and stronger almost daily since November, but after a 'test night' (where I put a few poppies out and they didn't die or get eaten) it was time to shove 'em all out into the big bad world!!! I was like a woman possessed when I got going, stabbing holes in the ground and frantically shoving plants in like there was no tomorrow. It felt good!!!
Have attached you a pic of 1 of the little plug's, isn't it cute? Was very proud of how they came out like proper garden centre plants! I've had nightmares about them crumbling in my hands when I tried to get them out of the pot!
Got the majority of the poppies out in some of the stone raised flower beds (when I had actually planned to plant them as meadow flowers around our rough garden border - Oops!) and some potatoes planted in the big wooden half barrels. Haven't even remembered to label the potatoes! How rude!!! I only bought 2 types so it shouldn't be too hard to identify when its up and ready to eat!
Above is a pic of 1 of the beds. Not into formal, so rest of it will be filled with a mis-mash of everything I'm growing, hopefully it will look wild and natural! Well.... That's the plan at the minute anyway......
Percy Thrower eat your heart out, my god you're a pro at the green things now! I've given up with everything apart from hanging baskets as little chickens love pretty little coloured flowers, they even managed to chew up my alpines, I do have a thing about them, spent a fortune and lost most of them but I do have a rock garden, more of a full rock wall which the chickens leave alone so some do get to grow. We tried veg gardening as well but the wild rabbits cleaned us out overnight!!! Wot no carrots!!!! Busy bee you are Linzi xx
ReplyDeleteLinzi you are so funny! I love to read your blog! Isn't it amazing how we live our lives and never pay attention to the little things, and then one day we notice the daffodils poking their heads up from the soil, or the seeds you planted 2 days ago peaking through the fresh soil. At that moment things change, and you start to see things in a different light. I spent almost my entire life on my granparents farm and never noticed their flowers. When I began gardening I went to their old place to get some flowers and it was like "why didn't I ever notice this when I was younger?" Everytime I go there, I notice new flowers that weren't blooming before.
ReplyDeleteEverything seems to be growing.Grapes dont look too well,but the Japanese Maples look awesome.Peach trees are starting to bud,as well as the cleveland pairs.Not sure about the white oaks,but they feel alive.Started all my tomato and pepper plants yesterday.127 plants,HaHa!!!!!
ReplyDeleteNever been here before but respectfully returning your visit to one of my blogs. Getting your fingers dirty means, to me, you are a gardener if it is mostly garden dirt. I gave up on formal gardens and went through some designs that looked great on paper but cost a fortune to implement. So they were abandoned in favor of wild and natural with some ancient, fossil-filled slabs of stone as bed borders. I no longer do much but look on at what shows up as all the things are perennial. I enjoyed reading you post and admire your house on the masthead.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post. You are funny! I like the picture of the plumbers! I'm not into formal either. I'm not good at sticking to my plans either. Sometimes when you're outside you get a better idea of what will look best. Good luck with all your babies!
ReplyDeleteyour doing awesome it sounds! How exciting isn't it. those who don't notice spring as it unfurls are missing out on a large part of life. Its an incredible feeling when one finds it. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteGreat to see you getting things out already. Looks like you've done really well bringing up those poppies! I'm sure they'll put on a great show... and well done with letting the 'plan' go out the window - always best to go with your intuition once you're out there.
ReplyDeleteIt's lovely how spring is in the air now and how the trees are going into leaf and the plants are unfurling. It's great to notice those things - makes you feel more part of nature and brightens the day. We have wild anenomes along the site border now .. and a great crop of nettles ready to take off!