Six-on-Saturday 04-04-2020

Another strange week but, as I said before, we are lucky.A couple of days ago I had 7 sacks of lovely, well rotted manure delivered. (See later in the post.) Exciting!!Anyway, off we go into this week’s Six-on-Saturday.

I removed the half dozen frosted blooms and it looks rather pretty with plenty more to come.

I thought how nice the robin looked with the narcissi coming into bloom beside it. Then I noticed in the background the real stars of the picture.

Lovely stuff! They shovelled it out from the bottom of the heap so it’s ready to go around the established plants.

The crabapple tree in the front garden is showing plenty of blossom buds. It survived the gale force winds recently even though it is right in the path of the easterly and the westerly gusts.

The Dicentra Spectabilis looks better now I have got rid of the Helibore seedlings and some of the perennial geraniums around it. (The twiggy mulch I used has helped to keep some weeds away but I am digging much of it into the soil.)

As you can see, the fruit cages don’t quite come to the edge of the raised bed so I thought I would sow some radishes in the gap. These are white ones and further down the bed are the traditional red/white ones. Quite successful, so far.

6)I know I have featured these before but I thought the two plants looked nice together. (The sun was reflecting off the leaves and the soil….some of which is cracking through lack of rain!!)That’s it again. I hope you all have a good weekend, it should be good gardening weather and rain is due early next week. I really need it.

Six-on-Saturday 28-03-2020

A very sad week for the whole world. We are very lucky: retired, with a garden, in a fairly rural area. Those with youngsters in apartments must be finding this situation so difficult. I hope you are all keeping well.

Here is my Six-on-Saturday for this week.

That Cerinthe Major always makes me smile. It’s in the wrong place and shouldn’t be frost hardy (at least, I don’t think it should) and isn’t “elegant” but is beautiful.

The sander has arrived! When the weather isn’t as nice, I will try it out on the lids of the fruit cages and that old wheelbarrow needs rubbing down and staining.

All the alliums are planted. These are the last few that I couldn’t find a space for in the garden. I was going to weed all the flowerbeds before I planted them out, but decided to just clear enough space for them since it may be June before I get rid of all the weeds!

Broad beans in one of those fruit cages. I don’t think it will deter the black fly but the pigeons will be disappointed!

That £1.80 clematis in the sweet pea obelisk. The sweet peas are rather disappointing ……

I will have to get/build another obelisk if the second sowing is more successful than the first! (That “poison” packet behind is blood, fish and bone meal, nothing sinister!)

🎉🎊🤸‍♀️ Happy 20th birthday to that incredible compost container! (Anyone who may not know, Mr Propagator made this for me shortly after we moved into our present house…..yes, he’s a star!) Those scruffy pieces of wood on top were a couple of nice planks that I have used as weights to hold down the plastic sheet that covers the composting materials ……they haven’t aged as well as the container itself!

That’s it again. Do have a good weekend although the weather is due to get very cold on Sunday.

Look after yourselves.

Six-on-Saturday 21-03-2020

The news is even more worrying this week. We are lucky, being retired and in an area near countryside, so we have been going for a walk early most mornings (before more sensible people are up and about) then staying in for the rest of the day. The forecast is for a drier, if cold, weekend and the week ahead should be dry. I tried a bit of weeding in the front garden but the dreaded clay makes it nearly impossible. I googled “How can I pull up weeds in clay soil?” The answers told me how to recognise clay soil🤭😃😃😃🤬?! what to plant in clay soil, how to mulch clay soil etc. I think the actual question was being avoided. Concrete slabs may solve the problem! 😣

Here are my Six-on-Saturday for this week.

Fritillaria meliagris! Much to my delight, I have managed NOT to dig up either of the clumps for 2 years in a row.

The first colour showing on a clematis. I’m sure it’s not a Montana – perhaps reading the label would be a good idea. I will check it next time I’m outside.

Those anemone bulbs I found at the back of a shelf in the garage (which had been ignored for at least 5 years) are multiplying and looking lovely.

You may remember the success I had with garlic last year. I had so many that I didn’t need to plant any more this season. However, as I thought, many have started “shooting”. They may be a bit tougher and more difficult to crush but the flavour is still very good.

Masses of shoots on the jackmanii – always a relief after my dramatic, late winter pruning.

🎊🎉👍🤩🤸‍♀️🤹‍♀️ Well, I am a little bit chuffed with these……eventually. The lids are rather a tight fit but the new sander I have ordered this week (yipee!) should sort this out. I have planted 50 red onions in the top cage. (I gave up with onions years ago because birds were pulling them up faster than I was putting them back! They won’t now. 🦅)

That’s it again. There are many plants in the garden ready to burst into colour, so it should start to look good soon. I hope you all keep well and can at least enjoy your gardens.

Six-on-Saturday 14-03-2020

Granny's garden

Oh dear, what a worrying state the world is in. At least we can still get out into the garden, so on to my Six-on-Saturday for this week.

What’s wrong with forsythia? It certainly deserves its place in this week’s post.

🎉🎊 At last!! Cutting a long story short, the second cage was so much better than the first fruit cage, I dismantled the first and used the extra replacement wood (courtesy of the roofers who removed the wood I had bought, along with their rubbish – by mistake – a couple of weeks ago) to make another one the same. I decided against slotting them in together, so they are two separate, matching cages with removable lids.

It took me over two and a half hours to stain ONE of the frames! Painting on top of chicken wire is a pain but I didn’t risk doing it…

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Six-on-Saturday 14-03-2020

Oh dear, what a worrying state the world is in. At least we can still get out into the garden, so on to my Six-on-Saturday for this week.

What’s wrong with forsythia? It certainly deserves its place in this week’s post.

It took me over two and a half hours to stain ONE of the frames! Painting on top of chicken wire is a pain but I didn’t risk doing it before I put it all together. It will look much better than the unstained wood once it is in place near the stained raised bed fencing. I will show them in situ next week……..I bet you can’t wait. 🤭

Some of the essential equipment I used for this project.

Picture one shows a tack/staple unpicker which was invaluable for dismantling the first frame and removing the chicken wire. I acquired it when I did an upholstery course many years ago. It’s sharper than I thought. (I won’t show you a photo of my plastered finger.)

Picture two, my staple gun…….wonderful.

Picture three is a perfect right-angle (very handy for marking where to saw the wood) which used to belong to my father. His many pencil marks, plus a few of mine, are obvious at the corner.

Lots of peony shoots all around the flowerbeds……plus plenty of weeds. Now the fruit cages are done, I need to get on with sorting the rest of the garden.

That pretty flower peeks out from under the lavender, I must keep an eye on it, the other one under the dustbin hasn’t appeared this year.

We went to B and Q last weekend to buy a new “soft-close” toilet seat (how exciting can shopping get?) and Morrisons is next door. So while Grannysgardenhimindoors went in to buy as many Three-fruit-marmalade jars as he could carry – reduced from £1.49 to £1 – I noticed this clematis for £1.80! Not sure where I am going to plant it.😬

Anyway, do enjoy your weekend and keep washing your hands, it’s so important and so simple. I hope you all stay well.

Six-on-Saturday 07-03-2020

We had a few most enjoyable, but very wet, days in Cornwall this week. The hotel is attached to a golf course and the course never closes. The greenkeepers must get very frustrated seeing the state it gets into from guests simply walking on it, or rather sliding across it! Anyway, we had a very relaxing time and came back to glorious sunshine here yesterday.

Time for this week’s Six-on-Saturday.

I didn’t realise I had a white crocus. A bit lonely but rather pretty.

Just behind the crocus, the rhubarb is progressing albeit slowly. A few weeks until I can make a crumble. It is being sold in the shops for £8.50 a kilogram…..I think we will wait.🤔

Daisies! I will mow the lawn later today if the rain keeps away. When we were young, my sister and I would rush out to pick all the daisies before our father could run the mower over them. Then we would make daisy chains which were always shrivelled up by the end of the day. (Yes, there were mowers in those days, thank you, but not electric or motorised ones.)

We have broccoli!! I know that the fruit cage(s) are not completed as they should be, but at least we should get a few pickings soon. This year’s broccoli seeds have not germinated yet although the Brussels are growing quite well in the greenhouse.

The pale green shoots in the middle of the picture are the dicentra spectabilis which I usually forget about until it is in bloom. I’ll keep an eye on it this year. (I’ve just noticed the cane-topper and the fallen cane which I used to support the plant last year.)

That “red” clematis which I was initially so disappointed with due to it not really being a proper red, is growing well with lots of buds. The more observant of you may have noticed a dishwasher pipe-support in the picture. Now, you remember a few weeks ago I showed you a use for a spare dishwasher-salt funnel (filling toilet roll holders with compost for the sweet pea seeds), well, I thought how easy it would be for someone* to accidentally tread on and ruin the clematis stem. Going round the garage looking in all the drawers and on all the shelves for ideas of how to protect it, I noticed a couple of these. Perfect.👍😃 Should I paint it, stain it, crochet a cover for it………..no, I will wait for the surrounding plants to provide their own cover. The cat-mint nearby takes over most things, so that should do nicely. 🤭😉

*No, not Grannysgardenhimindoors (he’s not allowed on the flowerbeds). I have been known to step back straight onto a precious plant when admiring something else in the garden! Silly me. 👩‍🌾😬

Enjoy your weekend.

Six-on-Saturday 29-02-2020

No, it’s not ready yet. It was a good week for working in the garage but I didn’t get around to finishing the other part of the fruit cage. Meanwhile, I need to take the wire mesh off the top of the completed one because it is too awkward to keep lifting the cage up to gain access to the plants inside. I will make a removable lid for it……soon.

Due to the weather and rather a soft, wet lawn, I have done most of my Six-on-Saturday in the greenhouse, well, the last three are.

The helibores provide the colour this week. The bed needs tidying but there is water lying on it and my feet were squelching as I walked across the lawn.

I took a few cuttings from my begonia many weeks ago. All three have roots on them and a couple have tiny new leaves on the base of the stem. I haven’t seen that before.

Lots of new buds on my crabapple tree. (Again, see the water in the moat around the flowerbed.)

Aliums, aliums everywhere in the greenhouse. I will plant them out soon – when I can safely walk on the grass.

Broad beans and Brussels showing through. I planted them a couple of weeks ago. Still waiting for the broccoli to show.

Hundreds of purple poppies have germinated. Mr Propagator gave them to me several months ago. They should look good later in the year.

The sun is shining at the moment, so I will rush out before……….oh dear, too late, it’s gone again.

Oh well, I hope you manage to have some time in your gardens this weekend. I will enjoy reading your posts, as always.