End of the holidays

 

Snake's head fritillary

 

My holiday is now officially over and it's back to work on Monday.  I really have filled the last 2 weeks and haven't done ANY school work!  Apart from the 3 days I was away, the weather has been good.  My plan was to get the kitchen finished but the weather was just too good to be indoors.  The garden is beginning to look great.  My lovely mum visited yesterday and we went to the recycling centre to fill our cars with free compost.  Mum thinks our council's compost is better than hers!  I remember reading on their website they invested in a £2 million super composter that turns all our garden and food waste into the lovely stuff.  We topped up the 2 raised beds at the front and filled some pots at the back. 

 

The raised area in my back garden is a little wild.  The first thing I did when I moved in was to remove the Leylandii trees and put up a secure fence. In that pic behind the Teenager you can see how dominating they were!  Now they're gone all sorts of plants have been appearing and thriving.  Like the fritillary in the top pic and the blue grape hyacinths and primroses.  I haven't planted any of them so they've been there all along :-) I did put in some raspberry canes from my mum's garden and they're doing well.  I also put in a wee clematis that I thought had died but it's popped back up again.  Today I'm hoping to clear more of that area and prune back the quince(?) tree.

 

Mum brought me this planter she filled with bulbs last year.  It has an amazing scent!! The pink tulips are nearly ready to bloom.

 

I finally got my bare rooted trees planted up.  The wee labels on them have disintegrated over the winter so I have no idea what they are now!!  I know what I bought, I just don't know which is which except for the elder.  Once they've got more foliage I'll have a better chance of identifying them.  They are an elder, a hazel, a cherry plum, a crab apple and a blackthorn (for the sloes!!)  I got them from here.  They're a Scottish company so I know they'll survive our climate.

 

The peas I planted in loo roll tubes aren't up yet.

 

But the ones in pots are!!  Lots of peas for me this year I hope.

 

I'm planning to put in my shallots and potatoes today (Sarpo Mira, good blight resistance) and planting a rhubarb crown (Timperley Early) then tomorrow I can prepare for work next week. 

 

Time to get out there!