Six-on-Saturday 16-02-2019

What a beautiful few days we have had this week. I found it rather too warm to work in the greenhouse so did a bit more weeding in the front garden. I did do some tidying (see later) and, unwittingly, was thinking along the same lines as Mr P, constructing some extra greenhouse shelving. My attempt has two layers and brick supports (see later) although the shelves may not be as wide as his.

We had a very nice day with Mr and Mrs P and the children last Sunday. We were fed homemade mincemeat swirls with our coffee and had a delicious lunch of chicken and chorizo casserole with broccoli and carrots (I’m not sure whether that included the remains of the snowman or not!), followed by a very tasty ginger cake. I had a guided tour of the estate and can confirm that the compost heap is going well and the disco lighting in the greenhouse is just as vivid as it looks in Mr Propagator’s tweets! There are hundreds of crocuses yet to appear but there are plenty on show already. The newly painted green planters are most impressive, too!

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

1)

You may remember that I was disappointed that one of my plants in the new white basket had suddenly died. I went with it to the garden centre and they gave me a completely new container rather than just a replacement for the dead plant. When I dug out the roots, I noticed lots of tiny white bugs wriggling around them…… not surprising that it died! The new arrangement has all greenery, as you can see at the back, and the leaves of one of the plants is most unusual, as you can see below.

The tips of the leaves seem to be forming new leaves – I will be interested to see how it develops.

2)

Here are the two stages of my extra shelving. The first idea was to use large plastic pots as supports but I decided that a firmer, safer option would be the bricks.

3)

In one of those pots, as you can see, the first hollyhock seedling has appeared! These were sown in November so have taken their time!

4)

Here we have really useful and, as far as I can tell, completely useless pieces of equipment. That broken golf club, as well as being indispensable for providing a hole in the clay soil in preparation for a bamboo support, is very useful for scraping out the softer mashed leaves that can clog up the shredder (with the machine unplugged, of course). Whereas the bamboo connectors have proved very awkward to hold together a “frame” over which I wanted to put my fleece. Any other suggestions as to what I can use them for?

5)

The garden is not quite a riot of colour, yet, but the primulas, crocuses and purple-nearly-sprouting broccoli are doing their best!

6)

The sunshine was rather too bright for a decent photo but I think you can see a big improvement since last week. I know I could still do better so I will keep working on it!

That’s it again. The forecast is good for us this weekend so maybe some more weeding to stop the celandine taking over! Enjoy your gardening!