lots of inside work - variable weather

Lots of rain recently and quite cold and windy. Front garden weeding finally done - had to virtually empty two of the front garden beds because of rampant couch grass, geraniums and euphorbia. The next potato bed is ready to plant, with a third yet to be de-turfed. The early potatoes in the first bed are coming up really well now.
sown:
alyssum and more cosmos
pricked out:
green basil, marigolds, more rainbow chard, white annual lavatera, echinops ritro
potted-on:
runner beans, haricot beans,
planted out
green basil, lettuce 'feuille de chene rouge' & 3 haricot bean plants (in the serre)
verbena bonariensis, alchemilla mollis, echinacea purpurea, heliopsis, stipa tenuissima, carex comens 'bronze' (into the front garden)
bought in & planted:
6 tomato plants, 2 cantaloupe melon plants, 2 cucumber plants - all in the serre
coming up:
the radishes, mixed Asiatic salad leaves, & rocket in the serre more marigolds, thrift, eccremocarpus 'strawberries and cream',

Lots to catch up on

Pretty pictures first - the euphorbia Griffithii is going mad - obviously likes this position in the garden.
The little hawthorn in the courtyard is looking pretty with its new leaves.
This is a variety of Phlox, and is looking spectacular at the moment. I will take cuttings and put some in the front garden - will tide us over a flower-less period in early spring.
The young horse chestnuts are growing strongly - about 30 cm growth already this year.
The two cider apple trees are coming into full blossom now and looking pretty spectacular.

sown:
more cosmos, more sweetcorn, more marigolds
The (quite expensive) special seed-sowing compost that I used bought to use this year turned out to be terrible for seeds, and I have had to re-sow lots of stuff. Very disappointed with the sweet peas too - same compost.
Radishes, mixed Asiatic salad leaves, & rocket - in the serre

pricked out:
rainbow chard 'bright lights', purple basil,
potted-on or planted out:
broccoli (ordinary green and purple sprouting) plus some cabbages into the garden. Am using a fleece 'tunnel' to cover all the brassicas, as they got eaten to nothing by cabbage white caterpillars last year.
12 Beetroot plants into the potager.
The early potatoes went in ages ago (around 5th april) using a the 'no dig' method shown in the soil association garden book - using a straw mulch (picture above). They are starting to come up - it is a bit of a fiddle ensuring that the leaves get up through the straw.

bought in & planted:
18 dahlias, a blueberry bush (gift from C&C) picture below6 cauliflower plants (in the potager)
3 more sweet peppers, in the serre (names to come later)

coming up:
annual lavatera, geranium splish splash, thrift, marigolds, Candelabra primulas
tomatoes: 'tom thumb red' and 'orange cherry'
some of the climbers for covering the dead hedge including some more sweet peas

ready to eat
the first radishes and some of the lettuces!

more stuff coming up

sown:

pricked out:
echinops

potted-on or planted out:

bought in & planted:

coming up:
Sunflowers, candelabra primulas, marigolds, geranium splish-splash, annual lavatera, cherry tomatoes (red & orange), potatoes (in bin)

orchard

The orchard is beginning to look lovely. The hawthorn hedge is leafing up fantastically and the trees are all going to blossom this year. There doesn't look to be too muck canker about either - we have been plagued with it in the last few years.Gertie tries hard to hide herself under the hedge, but is never going to succeed.

stuff done recently

sown (recently):
tomatoes: 'tom thumb red' and 'orange cherry' in modules
- climbers for covering the dead hedge: a mixed packet containing nasturtiums, sweet peas, morning glory & goodness knows what else. in modules
- plus a packet of thunbergia - black-eyed susan. in modules
Candelabra primulas - seeds from LC in Bacup! in modules
Marigolds - in modules & in the ground in the serre
marigolds, thrift, eccremocarpus scaber (2 types), dierama, white annual lavatera (own seed)

pricked out:
more of the mixed box of japanese quince and crocosmia 'lucifer'
kale - (a pot from C)

potted-on:
runner beans as they were bursting out the bottom of their little starter pots
mufliers (snapdragons)

bought in & planted:
sweet pepper - Poivron Carré Doux 'Lamuyo F1' two plants
Aubergine 'Avan F1' two plants
- both planted up in the serre in ring pots above the soil.


coming up:
Rhubarb, rainbow chard, fennel, carrots, beetroot, basil, potiron, capuchine (not climbers), echinops (own seed), spring onions, sweetcorn supersweet F1, haricots nain mangetout contender
some more cosmos - (but not enough yet)

The blossom on the plum trees is well out, and the cherries and pears are nearly out. The cider apple and the two seedling apple trees are starting to blossom now. The clematis montana rubra, climbing the front of the hangar - first flower out today.

Easter already - loads of stuff happening in the garden

Gertie helps us with the post hole for the garden gate...
1st of April this was taken - plum blossom in the orchard
The hawthorn at the base of the newly-laid hedge is sprouting beautifully.

this was taken 11/4/09 - peas and radishes coming up well
and we have eventually built a decent support for the white clematis montana that we brought with us from Darwen (the bush it was leaning on before finally gave up the ghost).

Have lifted and split lots of geranium macrorrhizum (now in the greenhouse) and have lifted, split and transplanted the aster (from behind the hexagone), into the bed to the right of the hexagone and also an astrantia into the same bed.

lots of stuff done and lots more stuff flowering

Day before yesterday - the bed under the teaching room window - a real mess after a years neglect - all the hollyhocks are quite dead and chaos rulesNow it has been weeded, re-built at the back and I have put in the hollyhock seedlings I grew over the winter and mulched it with composted brambles (got to use them for something!). Hopefully will look stunning very soon
Have put fleece over one of the potager beds to keep stuff warm (cold nights) and encourage seeds to come up. Peas and radishes are the only things showing so far. As you can see we still have leeks to harvest from last year.The muscari are out with a vengeance along the side of the house
and the purple-leaf elder is sprouting like madFirst potatoes in - into an old leaky dustbin. Pete has yet to finish de-turfing & digging what will be the potato patch, so this is a start. The rest of the seed potatoes continue to chit happily on the windowsills.
The iphieons are just coming out under the trees, along with some anemones I planted last autumn.
The magnolia stellata is going to have loads of flowers this year, even though it is still only a tiny shrub.
and the pink tulips in the back garden are out even earlier than usual this year - before the end of March!
We are continuing to build the 'dead-hedge' to screen off the gîte garden. I have used some of the various colours of willow that we cut a few weeks ago. The colours will fade soon, but it is pretty while it lasts.