Over the FENCE
An explosion of blooming colour
This spring the front garden has looked fabulous! The colour has been amazing with a mix of daffodils and the wallflowers have excelled themselves and filled the air with their beautiful scent. I’ve loved all the tulip pots – my favourite is the double pink-flowered ‘Angelique’ – every day the flowers just got bigger and bigger, ending up about six inches across! I’ve also loved the green-white, orange and nearly black varieties – all absolutely stunning.
I wanted a colour explosion so I planted mixed pansies and polyanthus and I haven’t been disappointed, although it wouldn’t work if I had a colour scheme – the plants just loved their neighbours whatever colour they were!
In the back garden one plant is stealing the show – my favourite Viburnum opulus, which is covered in gorgeous lime green snowballs that will eventually mellow to white.
I recently had my fourth Covid jab and had a bit of a reaction to it, making me feel poorly for a few days so I’ve been playing catch up again in the greenhouses. Never mind – all will be well hopefully.
All seeds that needed sowing have been done and pricking out of the bedding is complete. I was chuffed to be able to prick out 20 cleomes, which is a first for me as I’m usually lucky if I get one or two, so following the sowing instructions to the letter worked!
Barry’s veg seeds sown in pots for a head start are doing well and he’s been busy working in the veg garden. The potatoes chitted well on the bedroom windowsill and are now snugly planted up in the potato tubs. Red onion sets and shallots have been planted and carrots, beetroot, spinach, radishes, parsnips and spring onions sown. The beds are now covered with Enviromesh.
Barry has pruned back the catalpa and robinia ‘Frisia’, which would grow way too big for our garden unless this was done every year. I do love both the trees and would hate to be without them.
At the end of last summer the basket tree collapsed and was unable to be repaired – it was very old. I tried to buy a new one but was disappointed to find they only seemed to be available in Australia or America so I opted to buy a different style – much plainer – and just hope it looks as good in the circular bed as the other one did. I also bought four new baskets for it. At the moment I’m busy making up baskets and pots so the trays of trailing geraniums will soon be used up.
The next job is to start moving plants out of the greenhouses to harden them off, then tomatoes can be planted in their final positions. I’m going to be really good and only grow 20 tomatoes this year comprising eight different varieties!
Dahlias are growing well, as are the lilies, but I was annoyed to find five little red monsters on the lilies! Lily beetle patrols are now in force.
Where there’s sunshine there’s hope – hope that my tomatoes will be better than last year! I’ve planted ‘Red Cherry’ and a gorgeous plum tomato called ‘Roma’, which is very flavoursome. It’s lovely to be on the plot when it’s so sunny, everyone is smiling and enjoying working at the allotment. An old fox is often lurking there during the mornings, wearily making its way from one plot to another. Of course, the heat does encourage bindweed to resurface but as long as it gets dug up bit by bit, it does remain under control. I’ve planted out cucumbers, which I grew on, but French climbing beans and yellow courgettes were sown directly into the soil and are already making an appearance – let’s hope the slugs and snails don’t get to them. The garden is pretty in hues of purples, oranges and yellows. Alliums and bearded irises stand to attention while unruly poppies surface wherever they wish. The fruits of ‘Victoria’ plums are swelling nicely and it looks like there’ll be a decent crop this year. Although I started off sweet peas in good time I’ve only just planted them out, so I’m still hopeful of a colourful display. I’ve picked some yellow freesias for indoors, they have a divine scent. Despite their wiry stems, they fare very well in pots. Herbs are thriving. I have a good choice from rosemary, basil, coriander, marjoram, parsley and chives. I’m also growing mint and thyme, though with less success. I always struggle to grow these, which is quite puzzling when everyone else seems to suggest how rampant mint can be. Oh well!