The rain on Wayne never feels like in Spain

Following last weeks scorcher, the weather feels decidedly less inviting today. Just been out shopping and it's raining that misty, drizzly rain. You know the stuff that soaks you right through (?!). Well, it's not really that bad, but it's chuffin miserable out.

Just popped outside quickly to make sure the greenhouse was warm enough for the tomatoes and chillies and the temperature gauge reads a healthy 20c. It's colder than that outside, but that's the magic that is a greenhouse I suppose.

Here's how things look today (apologies in advance for the small image sizes - some techno-witchcraft happened to my phone):

The grenhouse looking resplendent amongst the tubs that are now srpouting with Peonies, Hostas and something else I've no idea the name of.



The Emir melons are looking quite healthy - given that they're restricted to vending cup pots.



Conqueror sweetcorn in two batches, the first sowing in the foreground standing approximately 3-4 inches tall.



Asparagus peas growing well, and searching for sunlight.



The celeriac - which I thought I might have doen some harm to because when I removed them from the cell trays I had to pull at the roots and was worried about root damage. But they seem to be growing quite nicely and will soon go into the ground.



On the floral side of things -the Sparaxis seem to be shooting up all over the place (with a couple of stray sunflower seeds it would appear). Some of the shoots have sprung up to about 6 inches tall - while the rest all seem a little less relaxed about the whole growing process.



And then finally there's a couple of bulbs I planted in pots a while ago (again - can't remember the name of them but I'm sure I've posted their name on here before) and one is coming through and developing into a distinctive looking plant, whilst the other seems a little more shy.



Got people round for dinner later so I'm going to go and start on that now. The forecast for tomorrow looks more promising, but I've promised my brother-in-law I'll go car shopping with him, so I might have to wait until later in the day.

Until then....

More bulbs than Blackpool Illuminations!

You know when you just keep putting a job off, and then eventually your hand is forced and you really have to get on with it. Well, that's just about to happen.

The job in question is my flower bed/border that I keep threatening to create in the garden.

Tonight I got in from work and we'd had a delivery of some bits I'd ordered from J Parkers:

100 Sparaxis (Harlequin Flowers) bulbs
6 Red Hot Pokers
1 Viburnum Opulus (Snowball Bush)
and 10 Short Stemmed Lillies - which were free

I planted them all in trays/tubs just until I've got this bed dug/created. Add to that lot the Gladioli and other seedlings and bulbs I've got and I reckon my bed'll be pretty full. Well, it may new be pretty, but I'm new to all this flower mallarky, so give me a break.

Here's tonights efforts:

Sparaxis (granted you cant really see anything, but trust me there's two bulbs per pot:



Plonked the Red Hot Pokers and Short Stemmed Lillies in the same tray - individual pots obviously!



Finally the viburnum:



Or Twigburnum as I like to call it. It needs moving, but until I can buy a bigger pot tomorrow, it'll have to do.

Another purchase we made (well, LadyWayne actually) was a Monkey Puzzle tree. We've both wanted one for ages, so LadyWayne went online and picked up a small tree. Well, I say tree....



The Blauhilde Beans, Negritos Dwarf French Beans and squash that I planted a little while ago have started to grow, quite quickly too:



I've not had much success with chillis and tomatoes - a combination of impatience (planting them too early) and laziness (not bringing them in of a night) has probably been my downfall. Some are now growing, but the chillies seem to have "curly" leaves, not quite sure why, but here's what they look like.



I also finally have a tomato plant that starting to look like a tomato plant!



It's one of the Golden Sunrise that a friend of mine, Flummery kindly donated to me (look ma, doing alright innit?)

Whilst potting on and sowing in the shed one tends to notice the wildlife, and with the mice (which I'm now "managing") I also had a wasp making it's home in my shed. I'd never seen a nest up close, let a lone one during construction.





And it would appear that I've had a few spiders nesting in there too - there are teenie weenie baby spiders on all the windows. I shan't bore you with all the photos, but you get the picture.........no? Ok, here's one then.



Well, that's me for another night. I might get down to the plot tomorrow night to water the plants again - the only drawback with this great weather we've been having!

Tata.

Every chance you get

Plant something!

Got in from work tonight and quickly nipped out to the back garden and into the shed to get some more seeds planted - I'm like a man possesed.

Tonight I managed to plant the Achocha which I received from the Heritage Seed Library. They are the strangest looking seeds I think I've ever seen...



I also planted the dwarf beans - Negritos, Some Squash - Avalon F1, Sweetcorn - Conqueror and some climbing beans - Blauhilde. I think I'll have to sow some more sweetcorn and climbing beans - I ran out of compost and space to plant any this evening, but hopefully as they're all in the electric propagator they shouldn't take long to get going and I'll transfer them into the greenhouse.



Speaking of moving things on, looking at the beetroot, parsnips and carrots, I think I'll be planting them into their final positions at the weekend. The beetroot is starting to take a bit of colour now.



Someone on The Grapevine came up with the idea of growing some sunflowers from bird seed, and having a bit of a competition to see who could grow the tallest. Given my own height, I'm hopeful I can nurture a lanky plant. I only planted two, but I think I'll be planting some more at the weekend, they seem to be doing great. See if you can spot which ones they are amongst this lot.



Tonight I also moved the chillies indoors for the first time. They sprouted a few days ago, but they are starting to get leggy due to the lack of light in the shed, so I'll keep them indoors overnight now, and move them into the greenhouse during the day, fingers crossed I do better with these ones than my previous attempt.