Small daughter was adamant that 'we must plant out some veggies' in the lovely sunny weather today...and who am I to dampen this enthusiasm?
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| First veggies go out 10th April 2014 |
So, in 'her' patch, went ladybird poppies, cornflower 'Blue Ball' (ever optimistic, this one - I've never managed to germinate a cornflower yet in 5 years...but it is a new garden, you never know...), a row of onion 'Snowball' (a Lidl special) and a row of carrot 'Purple Haze' (courtesy of the good Ms Raven). She has also specified parsley, coriander and basil, and also marigolds, but she got tired of sowing so they will keep for another day.
Beyond the plank closest to the camera, my Roots/Onions/Beets bed officially starts, where I have put in 3 rows of onion 'Snowball', 1 row carrot Nantes 5 (after the rip-roaring success I had with this variety last year), 1 row of spinach 'Medania' (with absolutely no expectation whatever of any germination as usual), 1 row of parsnip 'Duchness' (ditto) and space left for a row of perpetual spinach still gathering size in the greenhouse.
The sacred space after the second plank is of course the territory of the wee man, who is now constantly asking when he gets to plant his pumpkin and sunflower seeds... not yet, not yet!
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| Chicken wire hell! |
I also took pity on the first sown batch of broad bean 'Green Windsor' which have been begging me to release them from the greenhouse for over a week now. Given the speed of progress on the rabbit proofing, I decided that waiting for completion, gates and all, would almost certainly result in disaster for these, so went with the temporary rabbit protection around these too. I nearly didn't bother - actually I thought I'd let the Engineer struggle with it after tea! - but then what did I spy whilst I was sitting up on the patio having a cup of tea? A huge furry eared blighter sauntering nonchalantly across the lawn in the general direction of my newly exposed babies!!! I chased him off into the hedge (where, I ask, is a cat when you need one?) and quickly turned my attention to making a temporary wire fence aroung the individual bed. We have so many rolls of chicken wire lying around the place left by grandma, it's no real difficulty to stick a few canes in them - okay, so it's only a mild deterrent, not being dug in or indeed very high at all, but psychologically it feels like I've done something to protect these babies from the marauding fiends... it's just that I'm starting to feel like I'm working in stalag 19 surrounded by all this wire!
Speaking of rabbit fencing - it's still coming along reasonably well. Shame we have to be away for a few days otherwise it would be finished easily this weekend, especially as the forecast is good. Hopefully my emergency weeding yesterday afternoon of the strip which A needs to trench along has helped his pace a little, but I tell you, if I see another ruddy bluebell or red valerian plant for a while I will cheerfully fall upon my garden fork!!!
And breathe...
Here's a lovely sight to relax the soul:
The buds have opened today on the purple maple. Yesterday they were at that almost bursting stage, but this morning off they went like little explosions on the branches. I don't normally go for yellow and burgundy together - reminds me too much of an pinafore outfit I had as a child, very 70s - but somehow at this time of year, everything is welcome.
x
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