So much to report!

There has been a lot happening over the last few days including this beautiful Narcissus Bellsong coming into flower.

Border

I have continued to work on the sunny border planting out a wild Poppy (bought yesterday) and a Lavender and Hebe I grew from cuttings. I started adding some cocoa shell mulch and as I did so found a few things coming up I don't recall planting! I have no idea what they are yet but time will tell. I also put in some plant supports for my larger Fuchsias and trimmed the grass edges.

Containers

I bought a Trachelospermum asiaticum yesterday and I've planted it in a 30cm pot against the fence in the shady border. This meant rearranging a few of the containers to accommodate it but hopefully it'll cover a fair bit of the fence with its evergreen leaves and lovely scented flowers in the summer.

Edibles

I've taken the cloche off the Peas as they were growing too tall. I've got about half a dozen shoots up on the Potatoes and my three types of Tomato and Radish edible leaf sown last weekend have germinated. I've sown red onion sets and I have Beetroot Cylindra germinating on damp tissue paper. I've also eaten my first lot of Greek Cress of the season. To save space I bought a gorgeous wrought iron pot stand yesterday which will hold six eight inch pots comfortably. I'm using it for my Strawberries and I think it will look very attractive once the plants come into full growth.

Propagation

In addition to things already mentioned the French Lavender, Centratherum, Thunbergia and Heliotrope sowed last weekend are starting to germinate. I've sown the remainder of my Sweet Peas, this time soaking them overnight and only sowing the ones that swelled (after poor germination rates last time). And would you believe I've bought even more seeds! I got chatting to a chap from the Butterfly Conservation charity and came away with five types of flowers to try.

Wildlife

The garden was buzzing with bees today and I see that once again I have a Bumble Bee nest under my shed. Hurrah! The jelly on the frogspawn is disappearing so hopefully that means I'll have tadpoles before too long. I've spotted Starlings using the bird feeder this week but no other species as yet. And some very fat green caterpillars have been gorging on my purple Sage. I picked up a bug viewer yesterday for my grandaughter but she probably won't get a look in. It has both 2x and 4x magnification and I'll probably use it most to suffocate Lily Beetles!

Georgie