sowing & pricking out 3

sown (yesterday):
cupucine nain 'tom puce' in modules

pricked out:
about a third of the mixed box of japanese quince and crocosmia 'lucifer'

potted-on:
hellebores from root trainers (1 year on)

coming up:
the cucumbers I sowed on thursday!
about half of the sweet peas (chiltern seeds)
some cosmos - at last! (not been warm enough)

Put fleece over one of the outdoor potager beds, having first applied slug pellets - the slugs are decapitating the peas as fast as they raise their heads above the parapet, but the temperature is plummeting nightly at the moment as it is so clear. We had a sharp frost this morning.

sowing & pricking out 2

sown:
carotte nantaise améliorée 3 - in the ground in the serre (for baby carrots)
fenouil doux de florence - in pots & in the ground in the serre
haricots nain mangetout contender - in pots
sweetcorn supersweet F1 - in pots
runer bean armstrong (stringless) - in pots
spring onions - in the ground in the serre

pricked out:
broccoli purple sprouting(CG)

potted on:
6 violet odorata (from MB)

sowing & pricking out

sown:
parsnip gladiator (from MB) - in pots in the serre
cucumber (7 seeds - MB)
pricked out:
cabbage golden acre (CG)
cabbage greyhound (CG)
broccoli (CG)
potted on:
coriander plants x 6 (CG)

planted:
12 x lettuce batavia rouge (PV - point vert), in serre
12 x lettuce attali (PV - point vert), in serre

serre cover going on!

It's beginning to look like a real polytunnel! Just got the doors to build now.

more flowers and seedlings

The primroses under the willow tree by the stream are going over now, while these tiny tulips below, (tulipa alba coerulea) shouldn't be flowering till april.
Below is a seed tray full of japanese quince seedlings (Chaenomeles japonica) and also seedlings from crocosmia 'lucifer' that I hope will come reasonably true from seed. The mixture is the result of my belief that the quince were not going to germinate so I flung the crocosmia into the nearest available seed tray (was in a hurry). Now the quince will have to wait till the crocosmia are a bit bigger before I can prick the lot out.
The bergenias along the east side of the house have done really well this year.
This is one of the quince seedlings along the side of the gîte garden.
This is euphorbia griffithii 'dixter' in amongst the grass and nettles due to a years neglect of most of the garden. This is proving to be somewhat of a thug - it was a tiny plant 2 years ago, but it is spreading with considerable determination, despite neglect.
Lastly, the serre is coming on well - almost have the wood frames in the ends for attaching the plastic and hanging the doors. Have used some of our wood chippings for the central path and left over copper pipe for the side bars.

things done - 17 march

Sown: beetroot in the potager, lupins in a pot in the greenhouse, cosmos in modules in the greenhouse.
Potted-on: Curly leaf parsley
Done:
mown the grass in the orchard, thanks to the newly-sharpened mower blades,
another 4 barrow-fulls of soil into the serre
mown the back lawn for the first time this year - none too soon!

flowers and sunshine

Mid march, the euphorbia is in full bloom and the muscari are opening fast.

One of the pale pink camellias is almost open

This photo is of blossom on what I think is a peach tree that has grown from a peach stone in the compost - it blossoms really early each year.
Lastly, the tiny ipheion underneath Gertie is, I think 'Froyle Mill'. I acquired it as an unexpected extra in a pot containing a hazel seedling bought at a garden sale in Bampton, at least 8 years ago and I thought I had lost it. However, up it has sprung again and I will be able to unearth the bulbs and put them somewhere safer. There are two small clumps of bulbs now.