Spring Weather

Haven't weather-blogged for a while, so here we go. March and April really weren't that bad - in fact the end of March brought some nice warm days if I remember rightly, and April was pretty good on the whole as well. Thus far May is actually feeling distinctly colder.

Still having technical problems with the weather-station data - this time I'm missing everything from my last download (17 March) through to 14 April - ah well . . . investigations are ongoing. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Anyway here is the run down, incomplete as it is, on March and April:

MARCH:

APRIL:

Bunny Biscuits

Not so happy with the bunnies these days - they're tucking in to our strawberry plants with gay abandon - a lot of them are more stalk than plant right now. (Which has at least pushed us in to action on the fruit cage front . . . see future post.)

The biscuits I made at the weekend were at least sweet, although they looked so much more like bunnies before they were cooked . . .

Strawberry Fields

Well, not quite fields maybe, but certainly an awful lot of strawberry plants. Set out to transplant from the raised bed we planted last year, with its 6 strawberry plants, into the new fruit plot, either side of the path. Having pulled out around 50 individual plants (plus the 6 we gave away) were running out of room, so left some behind in case any of the transplantees didn't 'take'.

Here they are in their new home - also showing, the raspberry cane support system in all it's glory . . .

Fruits of Our Labours

It's been a beautiful weekend - could have been June rather than April today. The garden is looking lovely, the daffodils have for the most part given way to tulips, and the magnolia is looking absolutely beautiful. Around the lawn there are lots of cowslips and violets as well, and any day now the azaleas will start coming in to bloom.


We were intending to put in another veg plot this weekend, having decided that we wouldn't be doing anything major with the fruit plot (as we thought we'd left it all a bit late to get hold of some raspberry canes.) However, Martin's folks turned up on Saturday with 10 raspberry plants, and sorting out the fruit plot became a matter of urgency.

Martin built the frame for the plot that afternoon, while I moved one of last year's raised beds to make more room. Today we finished de-turfing, levelling, and planting it up - the raspberry canes on one side, and two blackcurrants, two gooseberries, and a blueberry on the other. The 'fruits of our labours' are pictured below, and hopefully in due course we will see some real fruits, although probably not that much this year . . .

We're still in the process of finishing the central path area - this is being filled (gradually) with stones taken out of the various vegetable / fruit plots. Also planning to move the strawberry plants into this plot from their current raised bed. Need to add some stakes for the raspberries as well.

Last year we actually had two apple trees in this area; we moved these a few weeks ago and have started the process of espaliering them. They seem to be coming along ok - at any rate they're about to come into bloom, so hopefully we'll see an apple or two. Bought a desert cherry tree as well, although that's nowhere near flowering just yet.

To end on a flowery note, here's some apple blossom . . .

Early Birds

Found this little chap wandering round the back garden this Easter weekend. He (or she I suppose) is a little early this year (last year's chick wasn't seen till early May). It can't really fly yet, but seems to be managing ok at the moment.

Speaking of early birds I saw the first Swallow of the year the same day, although it's still pretty quiet on that front at the moment - no swooping gangs round the house just yet.

Finally something I meant to blog earlier this year, a rather bold Robin, enjoying the retail experience at the Coed y Dinas store in Welshpool:

Potting On

Our growing season actually started a while back - 8 March to be precise - when the first tranche of potatoes went into three of the big pots we'd bought, and the tomato (plum and cherry), broccoli, chilli, pepper, sweetcorn, butternut squash and cucumber seeds went into trays on the kitchen windowsills.

Now, we're at the stage where most of the young seedlings have been potted on, into the large greenhouse, and the second tranche of potatoes have been planted up into the other three pots (as of the 21 March) in the small greenhouse (soon to be moved to the outside world).

The first potatoes are actually on their way up - time for another layer of compost from the looks of this photo - the idea being that as they grow we layer upwards until we get to the top of the pot. Hopefully this will give us our first crop of potatoes in early June, with the second tranche following a couple of weeks later, then the later crop from the veg plot itself, which as yet remains unplanted (just making sure we miss any late frosts).

Still pondering where some of the stuff is going - and the possibilities of a fruit cage remain a matter of debate - we've only changed our minds three times thus far. More updates to follow . . .

Growing Panes

Time for that garden update - starting with the greenhouse situation.

With the acquisition of Greenhouse No. 3 came the dilemma over where to put it. The small square section of garden off to one side seemed the obvious place, and disposing of the hedge opened up the space considerably. (We did decide subsequently that Greenhouse No. 2 may now be surplus to requirements, and that since it is all nice and new and in its boxes, we'd leave it there for now - we can then decide at the end of the season whether we need it or not, and sell it on if we decide not.)

Mid-March saw a nice run of Spring weather and the ideal opportunity to get the glass in to the 'new' greenhouse.

We had a few panes missing, but managed to scavenge a fair bit from the old lean-to greenhouse that we used as a cold-frame last year - ended up buying 3 or 4 bits in the end. Martin's Dad helped out and it all went up over the course of a Sunday and Monday afternoon.

Greenhouse No. 1 had been looking a bit sorry for itself for a while as well. Some rotten base timbers, and glass covered in moss and slime mould. So Martin treated it to a bit of a face lift, taking all the glass out and cleaning it, and renewing the wooden base before putting it all back together again.

Another weekend saw some fresh earth from the compost heap dug into both greenhouses, and just today Martin finished reconstructing one of the trestle tables we were given with Greenhouse No. 3 and moved it into place, and connected the new greenhouse drainpipe to the water barrel. (You've probably gathered by now that Martin has been rather busy - he did the lion's share of it anyway, with a little help from his friends . . .)

Here's an inside shot of the large greenhouse with its table (you can just see the barrel outside), and all the pots it will be my task to pot our seedling 'on' into.

All in all it's gone really well, we now have two shiny greenhouses, all ready for the new growing season. Next time, a bit more info on what is going in them . . .