After The Rains.

The rain hasn’t really been terribly inspiring to get out onto the roof this week, but when the clouds broke on Tuesday I went out and got to work.

I potted up my ‘Roma’ tomatoes; the ‘Yellow Pears’ still aren’t showing much sign of life yet. 

It was also time to pull out some of my spring bulbs that had gone over, to make way for the summer plants.

I just stick all the spring bulbs into pots with some soil and leave them till it’s time to replant them. I have to be be quite economical with space and do quite a lot of moving around through the spring and summer.

Also I had good reason to shift things about as my mum and I went to the garden centre on Monday, to kit ourselves up for summer. I have to say I was the definition of abstemious – I actually counted what pots I had free-ish and stuck to it. What I’m going to do with all the seedlings I have coming was a factor I didn’t really think about till now actually, but I’m sure we’ll find room, otherwise there will be a lot of sunflower gifts being given.

I did stick to plants that I could put in small pots like this Centadenia, ‘Cascade’.

I also bought, Brachycombe, ‘Strawberry Pink’ which look like little pink daisies,

Diascia, ‘Blush White’ which are little white flowers with pink and yellow centres. My favourite is Dahlia Tricoloure, for which I had to break my rules and get another slightly larger pot for.

I also bought some Lobelia and a  Barcopa for my hanging basket. When coming to plant it up I found that the liner was pretty shredded, so I took some of the rather sodden newspaper from the bottom of the wormery to add to the lining, the idea being that all the worm goodness will go into the soil. I’m holding my breath for spectacular results.

Every day now when I go out with my tea to survey the estate as we call it, something new is emerging and changing. Watching My Parrot tulips evolve is a growing hobby, especially as I’m studying flower structure on my course at the moment. Rich thinks they look rather gross, but I love monitoring their changes in colour each morning.

My other joy on the roof at the moment is seeing my Eucalyptus perriniana (or Spinning Gum) coming back to life. What is out of shot in the photo above is the 5ft stick that once was the tree. The plan was to leave it one last summer to grow peas up, It must have sensed me and my lethal secateurs arguing with Rich that he can’t want to keep a bare stick, but he did, luckily. It sounds like this should have a fable ending but I can’t quite think of one.

Happy gardening.

Eyes Down Look In.

I’ve been spending most of my spare time since my last blog with my face firmly fixed in all my seedling pots, waiting with bated breath for the first signs of life. And with a little help from the lovely sunshine, life has arrived.

These are some of my ‘Roma’ tomatoes, which are a really good variety for cooking with. I’m also growing (hopefully if they come up) ‘Yellow Pear’ which are a good salad tomato. Every year they never fail to make me smile as they do look just like little pears – it is truly the simple things in life... .

I’ve also  been busy replanting and swapping round all my plants from last year. My lupins that I sowed last year look like they are going to burst in to life this summer. 

I decided to start again with my strawberry plants that I had been growing in the old wine boxes, they did produce loads of fruit last year but the boxes were full of grass that was sprouting out of every gap. I’ve replanted the boxes with my lavender cuttings and some new little geraniums. I do always line these with newspaper along with my metal pots to help with moisture and insulation, especially as it gets so hot up here.

My pea wall is taking shape, although a slug has found his way up to the roof and into the planters. I think the times of a pest-free roof are gone, and the greenfly on my roses are going to be the first to go. 

To add to my ever growing pea collection, I went and bought a bag of dried Marrowfat Peas from the newsagents. 

These are brilliant for growing just for the pea shoots, to have in salads and soups.

I’ve packed quite a lot into one of the pot holders – as they will be eaten really young, they don’t need a lot of room.

Just in case you’re wondering if my love of peas is overshadowing my love of carrots, it’s not – all the carrots are in, in a lovely new container that I actually bought. 

Happy Gardening.