Woodpecker

Boy oh Boy !!!, its cold here this morning , temp dropped to -3 last night even my bubblewrapped Greenhouse didnt manage to escape the cold , poor wee plants , im quite annoyed with myself I knew it was going to be cold and I meant to go out and cover them with the fleece .
On the bright side the cold weather is certainly pulling in all the wild birds to my garden and my homemade fat cakes are very popular , as you can see even the normally shy Woodpecker was happy to get his photo taken yesterday just to get a bit of the cake !
Ive noticed some of the bulbs are starting to show signs of growth , I had to go out and replant some this morning as a cat had dug them up , ive put short canes in around the ground where they are to try and put the cat off doing this again , I really dont mind cats but wish they would use there own gardens for a toilet ! not much chance of that though !

Spring Bulbs

I was in Lidl last week and saw these Spring Bulbs for sale , at 99p a packet I thought they were a bargain so I bought 6 packs , hopefully this will add some nice colour to the garden .
Already I have Primula , Primroses and Bellis in flower ! I think it must be down to the strange weather we are having the plants are all confused , I wonder whats going to happen when the spring arrives will they flower again ? The Dahlia's are still growing well in the garden , im going to grow more again next year , I dont know why I decided on a change this year Dahlia's never let me down , im going to stick to what I know grows well in my garden from now on it saves disappointment later .
The Greenhouse is all bubblewrapped ready for the winter and all my little cuttings for next year are growing well , Im hoping I can keep my standard Fuschia's alive for next year , I can only try . I brought in my hanging baskets because we have had frost some mornings but they are all producing new growth and flowers ! Im trimming them back and hoping im doing the right thing , never a dull moment eh ?
Happy Gardening !

Quiet Time

Not much happening in my garden just now , Im having a lot of problems with my hip again , its very painfull so the garden is having to look after itself , I was up early one morning , around 6.30am , and I took this photo of a Sunflower in my garden , the dew is still on the petals , isnt it beautiful ? what a lovely start to a morning !

Check out my Slide Show!

A Sunday Walk

This is one of our Sunday afternoon strolls . Best to let it buffer to nearly the end then pull the little slide back and let it play .

Here we go Again !!

I got so fed up looking at the horrible, sad, sickly looking Tomato Plants so out they came , put out of their misery in one fast swoop with the secateurs , actually im exaggerating just a bit , there was only one plant left in the Greenhouse the rest had been chopped a few weeks ago , this weather has been awful , I think I got one Tomato this year !! the cucumber plant was doing ok but I didnt see the point of keeping everything on hold for one plant so out it came as well !
The bench , plant pots , everything was brought out in to the garden and I washed the Greenhouse from top to bottom , the bench and pots were all washed and the pasting table put up for all the seed trays , its nice to see it all so clean and tidy ( if only I was so keen on housework !! ).
Ive started off some Fucshia cuttings , im going to need a lot more though as ive already got a few orders for hanging baskets for next year , it made me feel good to know people have enjoyed their hanging baskets so much they want them again .One lady has asked me to make her up 3 hanging bags , I did tell her they take A LOT of watering but she seemed okay about that , I think her hubby is getting that job ! So here we begin all over again for next year with cuttings , never a dull moment eh ?? Happy gardening !

Im giving up on Tomatoes !

Ive got to say im a bit happier with the garden this year , everything has been very slow to grow but I do think thats more to do with the weather than anything ive done , its now the end of July and things are just starting to flower ! im hoping we get a late summer and things can look good for a few weeks , considering this is only my 3rd year with this garden , with a year out because of the hip operation I think im doing not too badly , im starting to reaslise what grows well in each area of the garden and God willing next year it should get a bit better , might even go in for the housing garden competition ! The things that grow well in my garden are the old favourites , like Dahlia's , Nicotiana , Begonia , Taggettes ( great in the hanging bags ) Marigolds , Lavatera , and the Dwarf Sunflowers in the pots look great , ( 2 to a pot next year would be better ) the Perlagonium did not do as well in the bags as I expected it to , might have to give that one a miss next year .I will stick to the Fucshia in the hanging baskets next year as the trailing Begonias havent coped too well with all this rain . As for the Tomatoes !!! well , I really think il give the big plants a miss next year and concentrate on flowers , I will however grow the Cherry type Tomatoes in pots and hanging baskets with Marigolds in beside them to give colour and keep the Greenfly away .

Begonias , Taggettes and Tomatoes

It just keeps raining !! the weather has been awful , so far ive only lost one tomato plant ( Moneymaker ) but the others are looking pretty sad , I know a lot of people are loosing plants to blight its just so wet . The hanging bags are doing well , the Taggettes and Begonia are growing well , im just waiting to see how well and how long they last in the hanging bags , all the other plants are struggling sitting in puddles of water , funnily enough slugs have not been much of a problem this year I think its too wet even for them , if we just got a few days of sun I think it would bring everything on into flower .



Begonia and Taggettes in hanging bags.

Strawberries appearing at last ! thats a little Tomato plant at the top . Minibel, its looking good and covered in tiny Tomatoes .

In the picture below is Lobelia and Alyssum in a puddle

My poor Sweetpeas have been doubled over with the constant rain .

The Robin Family part 5

My little baby Robins have flown the nest , its been such a privilege to watch this little family , I hope they all survive , be safe little ones , bye bye

The Robin Family part 4

What a difference a few days make , the baby Robins now have feathers and are obvousily being well fed !