ON THE GROW ALL WEEKEND

You'd better settle down there's a whole weekend to catch up on.

Grab yourself a mug of tea while its nice and hot and here we go.

I'm sorry but I've been busy...no time for cooking cakes! I promise I'll make you some next time.......

Saturday was an abysmal day weather wise so it was time to do some kitchen gardening; as in gardening in the kitchen. Armed with my trusty dibber and mini trowel; these came free with a gardening magazine years ago; Mick had been over to buy his Saturday newspaper and came back with the mags for me; I'd been using a pencil and old fork up until then...we were such newbie gardeners we didn't even know there was such a thing as a dibber! It's nice that something so unexotic can hold such sweet memories.

So compost and pots at the ready and under the watchful eye of the head gardener I set to work.

The first thing I did was prick out and pot up the Butterfly Flowers (Schizanthus). Normally I would have pot them up singly but I know I won't have room for so many pots indoors if the weather turns really cold again; so I potted them up in clumps...it'll either mean they will end up looking like one massive plant or it will be a case of survival of the fittest!

I always water my potted up seedlings from the bottom; funnily enough Christine Walkden in her TV programme on Friday night says she does the same thing!

The pot of orange pip seedlings for The Great Pip Challenge have their true leaves now so I've potted them up too. I was pleased with the amount of root they had on them.

The Senetti had grown on really well; I want them to bush out and so I've potted them up into 4" pots now

I still had some compost left in the bag so I thought I'd check on the house plants in case anything needed a top dress; the Lucky Bamboo I've been weaning from water to soil looked ready for its final repot; this photo is from the "weaning" stage.

Of course, when your looking over your houseplants inevitably there may be the odd accident or breakage, never one to be able to risk a bit of propagation......I had to make a pot of "bits and pieces" cuttings up! Luckily these are all succulents so it's just a case of popping them in some damp soil and waiting for them to root. Not that I actually NEED any more houseplants....but I just gotta do it!

So endeth Saturday.
Sunday's weather was completely different..an (almost) mild and very sunny day so out in the garden we went.

These are self seeded from last year and already starting to flower.

I hope I won't regret leaving this caterpillar safe and sound...he just looked so snug..I didn't have the heart to remove him.
These particular tulips aren't in bud yet but the leaves are so pretty, especially with the dew on them.

Last Autumn I'd split a small clump of Ajuga into pieces to try and make an edging to the centre bed; it's taken off well!

It's good to see the ladybirds didn't suffer from the cold snap
but neither did the flies!
I love the blue of this Hyacinthand the Violas have really perked up
The "un-named 25p Clematis has really grown well, it was only a stick when we bought it and now has buds on it. At least although it is nameless I will now know when to prune it, it obviously flowers on the new years growth..I wonder what colour the flower will be.The Skimmia is starting to flower; to think this started off from a berry Mick brought home one day, from a bush at a house he was painting.This is my favourite piece of stone round the pond,
it has it's own mini garden of lichen and moss.

While we were sitting in the garden we heard a lot of banging from our neighbour, the alternative gardener; I could resist a peek from the bathroom window to see what exciting new project he was working on

Tried to work out what was different.......I think he was working on this area....erm...I hope that gas canister is empty!!!!

I thought I'd take an overhead view shot of our garden too...it'll be nice to look back and see the difference at the height of the season

The back

The (left) front

The penultimate photo......it won't be long before the sun starts to shine on the pergola and FINALLY the sun has moved round enough so that I can capture a sunset from the BACK garden!