the fifth bed

finished today! started five years ago as a small flower bed, planted with corn last year as an unfinished 4x4, now properly sized, 8ft by 4ft, and edged with old wooden joists.
all five beds from the viewpoint 'standing on the garden bench'
a juvenile starling, observing.

Beans!!

runner bean 'Stenner', collected from plants last year grown from beans gifted by a grower who knew the 'breeder'
in
covered. exciting!!

fabulous flowers

the Scottish Rock Garden Club, Stirling Show held at Dunblane on 24th March. an incredible display of fabulous flowers as usual, here are some of my favourites.
Erythronium White Beauty
Frittilaria Minuta

Pulsatia Vulgaris, pink form
Pulsatia Halleri Slavica
Bulbicodium Viriditubus
Narcissus Asoanus, I think I must vote this one my favourite of the day.

Smokey goes on the road again

Smokey in his full harness, ready to go out on the road with his gig for the second time, last week.
here's a drivers' eye view taken today on his third road trip, Rosemary driving.
click here to see video

todays doorstep

nice little tulips, scarlet baby, flowering for their second year. and the blue thingmy's the ones with the faded label? anybody know? scilia siberica comes to mind, vaguely, but not sure. thankyou fiona deary for correcting my spelling. . .

I've been out playing in the garden . . .

things are starting to happen in the greenhouse, planting seeds is an irresistable thing for me. the inside of the greenhouse is mild compared to the freezing winds outside.
onions and leeks moved out into the coldframe, they were seeded in January in the greenhouse.
chitted early potatoes, Red Duke of York, out into B&Q buckets, I drill holes for drainage. sure I bought a half dozen of them last year but like the pots and trays they don't come home when given away. . . the inside of the panes cut from 'bus shelter', quite clearly showing scratches and dents, hope it'll be ok. I am starting a penny jar to save for a new all plastic type greenhouse, the frame of this old one is not sturdy enough to cope with the plastic, I see on new ones the plastic is screwed directly onto the frame.
emerging in a pot in a corner, I am certain this is a tall kind of primula, unlabled!

gathering dust

a quick visit to the kayak shed yesterday reveals all is ok and gathering dust, sure it doesn't show up much on the yellow anyway. (and nowI am wondering if thats a bit strange? to visit your kayak to make sure its ok?)

I long for summer

I long for sunshine and growing things
even weeding!!

take aim , fire, break my heart

broken pane no 1
one stone gets 2 and 3
in the last seven days I have had 12 panes of glass broken. I am not happy, after replacing six already with glass last week, from this morning it is being replaced in plastic(recycled from a skip), which is not clear so I worry about the light.
this morning, after another four broken panes with glass spread all across the garden, I nearly took the whole damn thing down and thought about giving up.

on a cheerier note here is some inspiration from a friend
Be thankful for your vision, no matter how imperfect it may be, but don't hide under the table when you realize that you're wearing mismatched socks.- C. Elijah Bronner

and some seed growing tips also from a friendly e-mail
http://wintersown.org/wseo1/How_to_Winter_Sow.html
http://americangardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/winter_sowing

a poem to share

To Those Who See by Gwen Frostic

To those who see

bare branches-

and know they hold the buds of spring

To those who see

stars falling in the heavens-

and know the constellations will remain forever

To those who see

long lines of geese fade far beyond-

and know they will come back again to nest

To those who see

with wonder in their hearts-

and know- what glories there can be

For those who see. . . .

thankyou for the poem kind friend

rain

I am glad I took these when the sun was shining the other day, today is pouring rain and the forecast is for worse all of today. during my week off I have managed to get most of the veggy beds turned over with well composted manure, ready to go when the weather warms up. I usually cover them with plastic or black membrane but due to the warmth there seems to be more creepy crawleys than usual so I am leaving them uncovered to see if the birds will assist with this problem.

fun

run around a bit
knock cones down
knock barrels down
walk over to have your head rubbed

run away again!

breaking and entering

you wake up and find somebody has quietly pushed your windows in and moved into the living room. . . .

thoughts on maturing gardens

I often enviously watch garden makeover programmes on television, inspired by their ideas I might try a gew things but am generally deterred by their sheer expenditure. an instant garden? the cost of a designer and about £3000 worth of plants?

not in my or many gardens I know!!

these two photographs show gardens planted by my friend May, the first is just 10 years old the lower one over 35 years. she is obvioulsy an informed and inspired plantswoman, many of the plants in my garden have been gifts from her, cuttings and offshoots from her beautiful and varied plants. occasionally I do some weeding or planting for her and come away with priceless knowledge and armfulls of stuff to plant. and she insists I am doing her a favour?
unfortuately this old garden is gone now, a few of these beautiful mature plants have made their way into my and other lucky peoples gardens.

and if you are looking at a large space for 'conversion' into a fabulous space, remember one plant will grow, and fill a larger area than you imagined! its worth waiting for!!