April's no fool

I haven't been at my best the last week or so, a nasty cough has stopped me from getting enough sleep and subsequently not paying much attention to whats been going on around me. Suddenly today its April and feeling a bit better, I finally had a good look at what has been going on in the garden. I haven't neglected the patch, I have been out watering my seedlings every day but they haven't had the usual level of TLC. 

Its truly amazing what a little bit of heat and some nice long sunny days can do. Colour everywhere. 

The wisteria I planted when we first moved here is romping along and looks in danger of actually flowering for the first time

And then there are the Baggie's. No I am not going mad. Our good friend and neighbour Dave is a lifelong West Bromwich Albion fan. Match days for him are a real test of his nerve lately, as they are not doing as well as he would hope, anyway, when the eucylpyus were removed we decided to replace them with Hawthornes. Now any true Baggie's (Thats their nickname) fan will know that "The Hawthornes" is the name of the ground at which the team play. Dave was delighted when we told him what we had bought and in his, and his much loved teams honour, the three trees are now know as W B and A. Although there is a chance that the Baggie's might, these trees are not going down. 

Here they are just after they were planted about 10 days ago

The variety is Paul's Scarlett, which was recommended by a lady I know on Twitter, called Emma who designs gardens in Bath. They will flower in the spring and have berries for birds in the autumn, but most importantly, they will shed the leaves so won't act as a huge sail when the Barton breeze gets up again next winter. 

Today they looked glorious with the leaves almost, but not quite out. 

Down on the veg patch, our evergreen Clematis is still in full flower and smells wonderful

and my very first flower of the year in the veg patch has bloomed. I planted these Calendula at the end of last summer and they have overwintered brilliantly

The rhubarb is growing like mad

and finally today I was able to get a few things planted. First the broad beans

and then finally the autumn planted sweet peas that had become very overgrown in the root trainer and were losing some leaves

As you can see they are already a good size and I gave them a feed to boost them a little. Hopefully in a couple of weeks this will be a wall of colour. This time I have labelled each plant with its name so I can get the ones I really like again. 

Out and about, as it was Mothers day last sunday, Georgie over at Common Farm Flowers was at full tilt. I baked a cake and loaded it in the car on Thursday and headed to somerset for a days flowery fun. As a not quite novice, I was given the job of packing the flowers ready to be sent out to the luck recipients. It occurred to me, as I peered into the boxes before sealing them that the next person to see these amazing flowers was in for a wonderful treat. So I captured the moment on a few of the ones I liked the best. 

Imagine opening the box and seeing these. 

And then I was trusted to make small jam jar posies which were to be sold in a local shop. 

I started slowly but gained confidence and it wasn't long before I produced these with another of the ladies that works for Georgie. 

I was rather chuffed. Hopefully my summer cut flowers will be arranged a bit more artfully this year. 

Well thats about all. The greenhouse is full of hundreds of seedlings ready for a plant sale I am having in May to raise funds for a local hospice. ( More on that another time) but my poor unsuspecting Dad who is arriving from Spain tomorrow for a visit, doesn't know yet he has a lot of pricking out to do. 

Hope all of your gardens and allotments are growing as well as mine, have a great week in the sunshine.