Potting on and planting out

This is Lily Lollipop which is in its second year. It has masses of blooms and whilst not scented it's the first Lily to bloom in my garden and rather cheerful I think.

There are some jobs which seem to take forever in a small garden and one of them is emptying out the spring flowering bulb pots so that the bulbs can be stored for next year and the pots used for summer flowering plants which I've grown from seeds or cuttings in the greenhouse. First I scrape off the gravel and retain that for future use. Then I fish out the bulbs, make sure they are dry and not rotten and put them into seed trays of dry compost until it's time to plant them again. The spent compost goes into sacks which I pass onto a friend to condition the soil on her allotment and finally I can get on with the main job of potting up the plants! Today it was the turn of a number of Fuchsias, Greek Basil and my 'reserve' Cucumber Crystal Lemon.

I planted up three hanging baskets with Fuchsia Swingtime, planted out three Basil Purple Ruffles into the sunny border and potted on Passiflora and Milk Thistle plants into 5" pots. I moved the remaining seedlings of Basil and Swan River Daisies to the greenhouse which meant I could remove the shelf from the kitchen windowsill leaving behind just two Chilli plants and my Aloe Vera which will remain indoors.

I weeded the driveway and put out two large tubs of Borage to join the three other planters out there. They contain one plant each of Hesperis, Lychnis coronaria and Pelargonium Quercifolium. All three are in bloom and I think it's a winning combination. Being at the end of the driveway they don't get much attention - they don't even get watered unless I remember - and yet they are thriving.

Finally I had a good look at the water feature and there are still some tadpoles in there. They don't appear to be growing any back legs yet but I expect it won't be long before they do. Unfortunately they spend most of their time under the pond weed so it's hard to get a photo but I'll try again tomorrow.

Georgie