After the wind blew the protective fleece off the agapanthus I was tempted out into the garden to tie it back on. And actually, when I got out there it wasn’t as bad as thought - I managed to time it between the rain and the hail, which helped! Sunday was definitely a day with four seasons, but even so it was just a quick peek to check to see if the wind had caused any more damage.
Thankfully the answer was not much, there were a couple of small tree branches down, one from the large tree at the back of our garden and the plastic trugs needed rounding up. It’s not clear if the branch was dipue to the wind or to squirrel damage. That’s a real thing, sometimes they get a tasting for a type of tree and nibble of the bark weakening branches, which eventually die and then fall. I’m hoping it is the wind, not the squirrels - I think it’s a bit early for them, so it could be ok. When we’ve experuthis before it’s been expensive, mainly because the tree man has to come in and work on all three of the larger trees.
While I was out there it was clear there are a few jobs to do, ones we should be doing and I’m sure you’ll have similar jobs too, so far on my list there’s:
Pick up the leaves from the beds, there’s some by the hare but there’s also some further up the garden where one of the foxes split the black sacks.
Start thinning the forget-me-nots, ours are prolific and if we don’t thin some now I dread to think how many there’ll be next year.
The forget-me-nots are starting to come through - there’s a clump of them in front of the grape hyacinth, and marching over the edging into the grass. This spot clearly gets the sun, and no doubt that’s encouraged them to start their takeover bid.
See those leaves behind those lime green euphorbias? Yes they need to come up too - they’re the ones there courtesy of the foxes. It’s a dry spot so I suspect they thought about setting up home, or even a daytime snooze spot there, but thankfully thought better of it. We’re hearing the foxes screeching again in the garden at night, another thing for the list is:
3. Check/change the battery in the fox scarer.
I don’t want them settling in the garden, they make a dreadful mess and I want to be able to leave the doors open when the weather’s good confident that we won’t have unwanted visitors. I’ve a feeling that next door’s cat won’t be shy about coming in.
There’s plenty of yellow blooms appearing too, which you’ll know will please me. There’s the Kerria (above) that’s popped through from next door and is really getting established in a number of spots. It’s easy to see why it’s often called the pom-pom plant isn’t it?
Our forsythia tree is also in full bloom and we can see this blaze of yellow from the house. When it stops flowering though, then it’s time to give it a trim. I think we missed this one last year, so this one is definitely going on the list, and now I’ve got my new ladder, that will get an outing too.
4. Trim the forsythia tree when it finishes flowering.
And yes, here’s a peek into the greenhouse. Peek in is about all we can do at the moment as it’s rather full. The trugs have been rounded up and stored here to avoid recovering them from wherever the wind fancies. I didn’t get to do as much in the greenhouse last year as I hoped, but this year I’m hoping to put those plans into place, rearranging the inside to provide more growing space, moving some of the storage space to the small shed we brought back from the allotment (which should be going on the list, but I’m saving that one until it’s a bit warmer and we don’t mind spending more hours out there).
5. Fight my way into the greenhouse, sort it out and rearrange it to provide more growing space.
6. Tidy the hellebores when they’re past their best, and nurture new seedlings that I discover while doing this.
At the back of the garden the rhubarb in the pot is already doing well and looking, well, looking like rhubarb. Though by rights, this should be a relatively light rhubarb year as the advice is to not cut the stems in the year after it’s been moved, which when they’re looking this good already, is a real shame.
7. Collect the fallen branches for the green bin.
8. Trim the pyracantha which seems to have two antennae heading straight for the cherry tree.
9. Cut the ivy out of the cherry tree, which has taken hold again.
10. Sort out some seeds to sow!
I’m sure though there’s plenty more to add, but for now let’s keep it to ten. What’s on your gardening list right now?