Good grief. Another weekend, another storm. There have been moments of stillness during the week. Heck, there was even dazzling sunshine and blue sky. But when you’re stuck in an office all day this makes it all the more frustrating when you know, come Saturday, things will take a turn for the worse and you’re in for yet another weekend of wet and windy weather. It has toughened me up though. I’ve forced myself to get out in the garden to undertake this and that the moment the rain has stopped, and that leads me to my first Six on Saturday…
1. Last Sunday I made that trip to the garden centre to purchase a few bags of compost and to sample some carrot cake with a mug of coffee (it was raining, I needed a pick-me-up and I’m sure carrot cake counts as one of my five a day). Late in the afternoon the skies cleared a little and I headed out to sow my sweet peas in some seed trays that I’d made from leftover boxes. Some Rudbeckia hirta ‘Cherry Brandy’ and Scabiosa ‘Summer Sundae’ seeds were also sown and I potted on the Lupin seedlings. Despite the gloom it felt good to be outdoors.
2. Fresh green leaves are unfurling everywhere at the moment. The Hydrangea, Miss Belgium, is sporting some nice, unnibbled foliage. I must chop off last year’s flower heads though.
3. Now this is freaky. The old Prunus cerasifera ‘Hessei’ got the chop last Autumn and I created a few log piles around the garden for wildlife. But look, it lives… sort of. Quite a few of the logs have sprouted new growth. I’m very tempted to try propagating some of the branches just out of curiosity.
4. The new Daphne odora, purchased over a year ago to replace the one that I’d moved around one too many times, is about to flower. I’m looking forward to appreciating their fragrance when they open.
5. I managed to photograph some of the crocuses as they opened earlier in the week. Some are still flowering though quite a few have got flattened in the wind.
6. And finally… During my trip to the garden centre last weekend I almost made it out without purchasing a plant. Almost, but not quite. Last February I purchased an Ilex Crenata ‘Dark Green’ as an alternative to box. It went to look very sickly in July and it’s never fully recovered. At the garden centre I spotted an Ilex crenata ‘Twiggy’ and initially I dismissed it, thinking it foolish to try a Japanese holly again. Yet I found myself walking past it again a little later. I picked the plant up, studying it more closely this time, but then put it down and walked away, feeling slightly smug at my demonstration of willpower.
Twenty minutes later, standing at a till, I found this in my trolley, shoved between the two bags of compost, two boxes of chicken manure pellets (it was a buy one get one free offer and t’would have been madness not to), a pack of coir pellets (I was curious), a bag of grit and another bird box. I’ve dug up the sickly ‘Dark Green’ ilex and planted ‘Twiggy’ in its place. Was it holly, I mean folly? Probably.
And they were my Six on Saturday. For more Sixes on Saturday, from all around the world, take a look at the site of the chap who started it all over at https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com.
One Man And His Garden Trowel 
Do you suppose there’s a worker employed at the garden centre specifically to mind read what the customers want and slipping it carefully in the trolley behind the compost? I think there’s one at our garden centre as well.
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That must be how it works!
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I understand there is a storm every weekend ! You did well to take your photos before.
I will miss the nice Cretan weather…
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Perhaps you can bring some of the nice Cretan weather back with you and send some this way?
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How interesting about those logs. Keep us posted on their progress. As to the box planters, do you bury the entire box or lift the seedlings out of the cardboard?
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I think I’ll end up taking them out of the boxes. Last year I grew them in toilet rolls but it was a faff filling them with soil and packing them in a tray so they didn’t topple over. My sweet peas were a disastert last year.
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Clever idea using the old boxes as seed trays. I tried using coir pots last year but in all the rain they started to collapse before the seeds had chance to germinate. Probably best used in a greenhouse! Jane’s comment made me laugh! The number of times I find myself buying something that I didn’t go in for! My solution is to stay away from all nurseries and garden centres unless absolutely necessary!
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You must plant that Prunus log…….at least one of them.
PS I haven’t been to a garden centre recently. I bought some seeds from Wilkinson’s last week, so there weren’t as many temptations there.
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Hmm, I came out of Wilkinson’s with a packet of dahlia tubers and some solar lights today. I don’t think you can be doing it right. I will try a few prunus twigs and see what happens.
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Much better to find it’s jumped into the trolley than to go home, brood about it and then go all the way back to get it. Dazzling sun during the week? I must have blinked and missed it. I like the cardboard box idea, I always run out of seed trays.
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I had to pull my car’s sun visor thingy down the sun was so bright one morning. I’d almost forgotten what the shiny thing in the sky was.
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I went with Ilex crenata in the front garden. Got a good bit of filling out to do but seems happy enough after one year.
I like the box sowing tray. My sweet peas are just showing signs of life after a week.
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I’ve potted up the old ilex crenata and will prune it right back as most of the branches are bare. It got swamped by the cornflowers last summer and I don’t think it liked it. I’ll be more careful with this one.
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Love this entertaining post. It made me laugh. Perhaps because I identify with the whole garden centre scenario. Right down to the cake!
That’s a clever way to use old boxes – mail order cardboard is usually very tough, so I’d imagine it will withstand all the watering that the seedlings need.
YOu mentioned your lupin seedlings – can I ask a question? My Lupin ‘Lilac Javelin’ seeds arrived in the post yesterday (yes, the ones I copied from you!) and I think I’ll get started on my seeds this coming week. Did you soak the seeds before sowing them?? I remember reading somewhere to do that with lupin seeds, but there’s no direct instruction on the packet.
The perfume from the Daphne odora will be a delight when the flowers open.
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I didn’t soak the lupin seedlings beforehand and they came up very quickly (I put them on a windowsill over a radiator).
Card pots/trays can get very soggy, a big problem if the seeds take ages to germinate!
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Thanks very much for the seed info!
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The cardboard box seed tray is inspired! Definitely will be trying that. I hope the Ilex does OK, I’m thinking of trying one in the back garden, if I can find a space…. I’m a week ahead of you with my hydrangea, took the seed heads off this week and our lovely Daphne is already going over. We are a tad further south west I think.
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It’s interesting how advanced/further behind gardens are across the country. This is the first time this daphne has flowered. My mother-in-law has an old one that is filling her garden with scent at the moment.
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I like the name Twiggy and it’s a lovely looking Ilex. I hope she does well for you.
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Fingers are crossed.
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Now that’s a proper trip to the garden centre.
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Annoyingly I forgot to take the loyalty card with me. All those points wasted.
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He is saving up for a trip to a special nursery, no doubt!
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You are right, being outside one can hear the wind and the birds. Seeing your seed sowing marathon is making me realise I ought to get on with mine! Or ought I to wait just another week?
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Sunshine? Your kidding aren’t you what next? Warmth? I have started to use that peat free compost as well. Of course Carrot Cake can be used for 1 of your 5 a day!!!
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I should have taken a photo as proof!
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I hope you get on well with the New Horizon compost. I’ve had mixed results, but I’m willing to give it another go (especially since I’ve not found any other peat free brands for sale locally). We’ve had a prunus (variety unknown) that threw up suckers all over the lawn in an 8ft spread. I think they might be impossible to kill.
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