Entries from May 2011 ↓

Well, this weekend I have been doing the compost. Every year I empty out the composter and sift through it to get the big lumps out and then use it for my planting and as a soil improver.

My garden is not the best soil, as it seems to have a hard base one spit down. So I try to improve the surface with my own compost.

I have also been fighting the ant as they have been trying to consume my Peony Roses. I think I have got on top of the ants before they ruined them, but it was a close run thing and now I am fighting a running battle all around the garden because as soon as I move them on from one of my plants they are trying to set up home in another one. Ant powder is my friend at the moment and I am using a lot of it.

On another note, I now have bees setting up home in the garden. That?s always good as it shows they like the garden for its flowers and they have decided to be near where they feed. I will keep an eye on them and see what they get up to over the summer.

I couldn?t resist showing you this lovely green leaf plant. I?m not sure what it will become at present, but I will keep an eye on it and let you know.

The Azalea has started to fade now, but this was it in all its glory a couple of weeks ago.

All of a sudden it came out in full when it was buds the day before. It?s always a nice surprise to pop out into the garden and find something new has happened over night.

It was a nice surprise to have this spring bloom as while the weather had been warm, it was too early for much else to come out.

Well, these are my strawberries this year. They are coming on nicely. This year they are in tubs as I am not doing the plot. I thought they might get a bit dry in the hot weather we had back along, but they managed to survive, even when I had to leave them for a week or two. As they are flowering so early I hope to be able to get two or three crops out of them if I am lucky. I will let you know.

Again I am not sure what these are. They may have come in on the wind or more likely with the compost I have been using.

Any ideas?

I am not sure what these are. They seemed to have migrated to my garden without any help from me.

If anyone knows please do drop me a line.

This is a slightly wider angle on the pansies. They are in a hanging basket. They are moving wildly in the breeze we have right now. I expect they wont survive much longer if the wind keeps up.

My pansies are up and showing their faces to the sun we have been having. I?ve not seen as many bees round them as I have in the past though.

Shame.