We went to Brookside Nursery on Good Friday and I found a new section of the garden centre I hadn't been in before that sells lots of little plug plants for cheap prices. To my delight I managed to buy some lysimachia and helichrysum for only 49p each. I'd been trying to find seeds of these but not had much luck (perhaps they're propagated from cuttings rather than grown from seeds?) Anyhow, they've been potted up into larger containers now and they're destined for my hanging baskets. I also got some ivy, verbena, and other hanging basket trailing flowers. Chris bought lots of fuchsia plug plants and splashed out on a large blueberry bush. Plug plants are so cute - and so cheap!
Chris got busy with the obligatory Easter DIY session and fitted a new floor to ceiling cupboard next to the front door, and made 4 bird nest boxes for his Mum's birthday.
Lots more seeds got sown this weekend, mainly ones for the front and back gardens, I used up a full bag of compost. Varieties included cat grass (for my cat Mr French - he loves having a chew on all the plants in the back garden. In fact, I daren't sow foxglove or delphinium, as they're toxic and I'm sure he'd probably have a a graze on them), cornflower, borage, lots more sweet peas (the ones I got free with the Gardeners' World magazine), nemophila, teasle, valerian and Nicky's Nursery wildflower window box mix. I put these in pots outside rather than sowing direct, so I hope they'll all be OK. I'll move them into the soil once they're a bit bigger.
The primulas in the back garden and doing well - the purple drumstick is ahead of the white one.
I sowed more nasturtium jewel cherry red and some more microdot black eyed susan. I also sowed some melon seeds and popped these in the propagator, along with 6 pots of sweetcorn, this time 2 seeds per peat pot (and the correct larger size of peat pot this time, rather than the silly small ones I used the other week). I'll remove the weaker seedling in due course.
The nasturtiums' roots had already started growing out of their pots, so I got these repotted into bigger pots on their own. They're vigorous growers and smelt peppery when I repotted them. I love nasturtiums, they remind me of my childhood. Some of the tomato seedlings were beginning to look cramped, so I repotted these too. I pinched out the top of my spencer sweet peas.
Something has eaten four of my aubergine seedlings and there's only 2 left, so I'll need to resow some more seeds. I'm guessing it was probably a slug so I put some pellets down in the greenhouse. I hope no more seedlings get eaten!
On Monday I got round to a job I'd been meaning to do for a while, creating a small cacti garden in a large terracotta pot, which I think looks cool, but maybe a bit too symmetrical, so I might see if I can break it up a bit with a small succulent or something. I guess it will look less symmetrical as it grows.
A new word entered my vocabulary this weekend - pelargoniums. I was fascinated to learn these plants come in scented leaf varieties, and I remember my parents having a lemon scented pelargonium as a child, and rubbing its leaves to release the smell. They come in a wide range of fragrances, including cinnamon, orange, peppermint and rose. I found a supplier of bare rooted small plants online, they're £3 each but there's a minimum order of £10, so I'm not sure if I really need four of them. But I would love to order them. I guess I could give some away as presents, and they propagate easily from cuttings so I could use them to make lots more plants. I think I need a few houseplants that aren't cacti and that flower and smell nice. I shall ponder a little longer on this one. I dreamt about pelargoniums last night, the word seemed to be stuck in my head.
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