April 24

Ch ch ch changes

Planted a Kniphofia, a poppy and some ranunculus from Poundland in the bed in front of the honeyberry. It has been so cold and wet I think all had died in the packets before I had a chance to plant them but hope springs eternal even if they have not – no signs of life by the end of the month.

Planted a teasel in the west facing bed behind the echinops. Hopefully it will fill out the gap and be visible in late summer. Put an epimedium in the gap in front of the lily of the valley, which is both flowering and being decimated by slugs. Potted up some ginger mint and put it in the pot- holder on the wall by the back door. Tomato plant and morning glory seedlings planted in pots and all have germinated – waiting til it feels less like November so they can be planted out.

Successes

April 13 saw the first signs of the tadpoles wriggling in the pond.

Flowers on the ceanothus, pyracantha and heucheras; alliums coming out; buds on the guelder rose, the geum and the pinks who seem to like their temporary home in the east facing bed and can stay there. One of last year’s Verbascums is showing green growth, the others are still invisible, but the anemones in that corner are showing well and there’s new growth on the lavender. The campions I moved to make space for the pond are now clearly visible in the corner in front of the ceanothus. Flower spikes on the acanthus, good strong growth on the nandina. The back bed is a sea of green – from the Burncoose skimmia and hydrangea which are both looking good, but mainly from self-seeding violets, feverfew and celandines.

Hmms

Bought but not potted some rosemary. Clue to why I have been so unsuccessful, according to the man at the plant fair is that I need to plant it in a pot in full sunlight and with 70% grit/compost to make good drainage. Sadly I have no grit, and no-one seems to want to deliver any to me, so the rosemary is at 6 May still in its original pot and dying.

Weather

Apparently we have endured the wettest 8 month spell on record. By the end of the month it was still generally too cold and wet to want to go outside. Padded Iceland-coat weather. No deterrent to the slugs and snails which are EVERYWHERE.

This time last year

The biggest difference in the garden since I started keeping these records is the loss of the tree. The extra light has already super-charged the growth of the anemones and the euphorbia which are bigger than they were this time last year. The fuchsia which I moved last year is surviving and has lots of leaves on it already, although it didn’t flower well last year – let’s see if this year is different. The foxgloves I put in in April 23 couldn’t withstand the slugs, only one of them did anything and I am loathe to repeat the experiment even though this should be a good garden for them, with lots of shade.