Totally in the Dark!

I got up in the night (as you do at my age) and realised how dark it was. Well of course it would be, being the middle of the night and especially as we live in the middle of nowhere, so no light pollution! Normally my growing light in the greenhouse shines like a beacon, but no, it was pitch black!!!

Mine is the four foot one,sadly the nylon string which you use to raise and lower has rotted or something and fell apart, so I now use 2 meat hooks!! Anyway after much checking of fuses and trip switches it looks very much like the tube has gone! Unfortunately for me, in the middle of seed sowing trying to source a new tube has proved difficult as 'Root It!' are no more. Anyway I found a man in Trowbridge who could help and I should be collecting it tomorrow.
Meanwhile, we have had a number of good days with that bright, warm, yellow ball thing in the sky. This has enabled us to do quite a bit in the garden.
One of my Phormiums looks really happy in it's pot. I am planning on planting this in a new Jungle bed I am creating, but wonder should I 'leave well alone'?

The Butia, which had been very poorly when I bought it seems very happy at the moment. It has been out all winter and is sending new shoots up. I would really like to get it out of this pot. I am currently looking for a galvanised trough for it to go in, I even have a place for it to go too!

As much as I loved the box ball's in the corners of the veg beds, they did take up alot of 'root room'. This fence belongs to my neighbour and is so rotten that if you sneezed it would probably fall down! (well maybe not quite that bad) As you can see we have had to put up chicken wire to stop Mr Darcy visiting as its our responsibility to keep our dog in. So we decided to plant them along here let them grow into one another to form a complete hedge..... eventually. I am actually quite pleased and think it will look good.

I have now taken on the roll of 'Organiser' for the Village Open Gardens. They have no idea what they have let themselves in for lol! I have lots of ideas which I hope they will embrace. It looks like they will open either June or July (date to be decided ).  I usually start my 'nanas' off the 1st April so I thought I ought to start a bit earlier as I would really like to get some height going. Well if Chelsea can do it why can't I, how hard can it be? lol!!!!!
So yesterday I dug them out from the back of the greenhouse, tidied them up, trimmed them up and bearing in mind these have been stood upside down for 6 -8 weeks and had no water for all of winter it still amazes me how much moisture is held inside them. So they are now stood in pots of compost, which is just out of the bag, no water added. I have four heaters in here,  2 tube ones and  2 fan heaters.
Its quite scary cos if they do grow quick what do I do with them once they have outgrown the greenhouse???

Here we have 2 potted bananas that have again, not been watered all winter, but since it warmed up have started back into growth. I have been kind and given them a very little drink.

I have managed to jig stuff around to create space for more shelving, as the pricking out continues space becomes limited. As you can see I also keep the bag of compost in here too so it is already warmed up.

I do love this time of year, it is so good to be outside in the garden again. I am fortunate to have a daughter who loves it as much as I do. I look round and think there is an awful lot to do, that is the perfectionist in me, I think if I sort the lawn out then actually there probably isn't although I am very good at creating jobs for myself!!!

More Greenhouse time.....

We had a fantastic day in the garden on Sunday, the sun shone all day, we had morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea in the garden, plus got loads done as well, we all thoroughly enjoyed it. We have moved all the 'Box Balls' out of the veg beds as they where beginning to take up alot of space, I only need to find homes for 3 more. The lawn is no longer lawn, but moss. It will need a serious amount of work done to get it back to how it was 2 years ago!! I went down to the greenhouse today as I needed to do some pricking out, I know I am quite ahead, but I need to be, as I am now in charge of the organisation of the 'Village Open Gardens'. It seems very apparent that everyone else wants to open June and I need September. So we bow down to the majority, but I may just open September on my own as well. Anyway full cheat mode maybe put into operation and I may well start off Bananas etc in the heated Greenhouse in pots to get them going and hopefully a bit taller than they would be normally.

So on the heatmat we have Canna's, Brugmansia, some pricked out seedlings of Black Eyed Susan and Cobea Scandon Alba.

My Aeoniums seem very happy underneath the propagater. I don't do an awful lot to them over winter.

As you can see the propagater mat is full. I pricked out alot today and like to put them back on the heat mat for a little while to settle them down, then they will be place on shelving and I can start some more seeds off, it is all planned out. The problem is do I have space?? I haven't even thought about starting any veg yet! I may have to cheat a buy seedlings, not something I normally do!!!

Here I have 4 very large Brugmansia, one of my potted bananas has decided to start growing,which I may continue to encourage, the palm is quite happy. You can just see the new shelving I have put up to help take the seedlings as they begin to take over the greenhouse.

On the plus side the 4 Silver Birch in my neighbours garden are now 3, you can just make out the mound of ivy in between the remaining trees. It blew down at the end of last week.

Also a very old apple tree in the neighbours garden is very, very wobbly and has a decided lean to our garden. When we mentioned it to our neighbour she said she would chop off a few branches. We are not convinced, once in full leaf and covered in apples this may very well arrive in our garden!!!!

Rain, Hail, Wind, more rain and...................

cdddddddddddddddddddddfIt just goes on and on, rain, rain, rain! Still mild though, we have had a few nights when the temperature has dropped but fortunately not enough to do any damage.

Currently everything is bursting into life

further down the garden a few fence panels have blown out, not as many as my neighbour but enough.

Green shoots everywhere

Hellabores popping through

I found a banana I had forgotten I'd planted, still standing firm.

I found some seedlings, the thing about seedlings that just appear, you are never quite sure if they are weeds or something else, I just get the feeling that these are 'the something else type'.

Where we live we are fortunate to not be affected by floods,but the amount of rain is unbelievable, the fields are awash and the mud well we have plenty if anyone wants some!

The Middle of ????

For as many years as I can remember January to me has always meant Spring.
I'm not sure if its because I suffer with depression and can't wait to get rid of the dark grey days but that's the way I think.
My husband on the other hand, along with alot of gardening friends say January and February are winter! I just find that sooooooo depressing. I don't care what you call it, whether there is a foot of snow or a foot of water to me its spring and I have proof!

The stupid banana (Ensete) is growing!! Lol!

New Life

Don't you just love watching seeds burst into life?

I do

I just hate all the fiddly pricking out

except when you plant single seeds into pots

then you can nurture and watch them grow and grow. My planting plan has been started, I just hope I have enough room in the greenhouse later in the season!