Well after almost daily frosts until a fortnight ago we have had shade temps of up to 29deg here for the last week.

My Gardening Direct deliveries arriving during the hot weather have fared well, arriving looking remarkably fresh. Now all potted on or planted out.

Thumbergias all doubled in size overnight and the courgettes have grown like triffids. After a slow  start in the cold the new roses are full of tender new shoots – I can’t wait to see the new blooms. Runner beans are 50cm high now and the peas are going into the ground today – surrounded by netting until established to stop the ever-ready pigeons.

Porous hose turned on yesterday in the veg plot as it’s too dry and to many plants to do by hand now.

Well it’s now mid May and we are waiting for the may blossom and chestnuts to come into full flower. It’s 3.30pm and only 9 degrees.

I Have planted out last weeks arrivals – 6 black currant bushes just over a meter apart with plenty of compost topped off with some wood chip mulch. A few green tips are sprouting – I’m not sure what to expect – if anything from the plants this year. The cabbages and runner beans have greened up quickly now out of the boxes but still in the greenhouse due to the persistent threat of frost.

My Daphne (Adora Aurea marginatum) which is normally late winter flowering is still covered in highly scented flowers but looking a little anaemic I’m not sure whether the prolonged cold or excessive flowering is exhausting it. They like ericaceous soil which we do not have so a top up may be needed.

The swifts and swallows are back so hopefully will summer be soon!

Deliveries are arriving regularly. 42 plugs of stocks have been planted on and are looking refreshed. Larger geranium plugs  arriving a few days later have also transferred well.

We are still getting frosts – the car needed a scrape yesterday morning. I managed to earth up the 1st earlies just in time!

The onions that survived the 1st 24 hours in the veg plot have all taken root and got good shoots. The cloche did stop the birds moving them – even if some were eaten.

The conservatory plants are really taking off now the days are longer. I have taken the plunge and chopped off about 1.5 meters of one branch of the yucca which is beginning to hit the roof. They are supposed to sprout from stumps, the other 1/2 will go if this experiment is successful.

I have just got back from work to find a neatly packaged box of bare rooted scented roses from gardening direct. I had to prepare the ground before I could even make tea! I have heard that new roses do well in an old rose bed only if the soil is replaced so I have dutifully removed a barrowful for each rose position. This has been replaced with  homemade compost. I will add some manure when it arrives. Hopefully the display & scent will be worth the digging!

More goodies due later in the week. The rest of my onion setts seem to be surviving  and beetroot ,carrots & spinach have all germinated outside. 8 sweetcorn also showing shoots in pots in the greenhouse – if I plant the seeds of these out directly they get eaten before germination

The mole repellers have arrived and I’ve decided to put one by the compost to deter the reccurent rat visits as the lawn has now been mole free since the deterents were installed.

The poppies and peonies are all in bud – the cold winter has not delayed them. Rather strange as they normally fill the gaps after the daffodils have died back and of course they are still flowering.

I planted 50 onion setts yesterday, thinking I may save myself the job of resiting them after the birds have dislodged them every day, I put my butterfly cloches over them until they root. To my dismay this morning one row of 20 now is a row of ONE! One hungry mouse!?

I have just ordered some bedding plants to grow on in the greenhouse before planting out.  It is tempting in this fine weather to put plants out too early

having raked and rolled the lawn to repair the mole damage the mole repellers that I got from gardening direct do seem to keep the moles away from the lawn! Mole activity is all near the edges only - sadly excavating the rabbit fence posts round the veg plot - so I have just purchased a few more to enlarge the area protected.

At last the magnolias are coming into bloom, the stellata slightly ahead. January 2009 the rabbits completely ring-barked a 12 yr old magnolia which to my surprise has more buds on than ever. We have acquired a 3rd one (in an old plastic barrel) from a neighbour who no longer has room for it & admitted that it had never flowered. I tipped 2 buckets of homemade compost on it last year and it too has flowers so will be planted out now proven to be worth having. It is always worth feeding plants before giving up on them!

18 degrees today – what an Easter Hol treat!

Sun cream needed for gardening for the first time in 2010.

I have meters and meters of soaker hose – fantastic stuff – it just waters the ground round the plants not the bare soil so less weeds grow. The Veg Plot plants particularly benefit as the leaves do not get too wet. Also you can leave it trickling whilst you are away so neighbours do not have to be conscripted for watering duties so often! It is a must in my greenhouse too.

I have just laid it all out for this year and put the hose on fast to clear the pipes out and to check for any leaks – non found this time  – so all ready for a long hot summer.

The bird of paradise is blooming well

Today I took delivery of a huge vibrating roller to help restore the grass to something like alawn rather than the surface of the moon. We occasionally have few moles – so do alot of you I’m sure. The hills were even popping up through 5″-6″ of snow. This however was nothing to the surprise we got when the snow melted. Thet had used the snow as the top of the tunnels so the lawn looked like ground on the underside of a stone where there is an ants nest – the difference being that this run of tunnels covers an area of approx. 15 x 20 M. We have now got vibrating pegs in the ground to deter new mole activity I also have a mole trap lent by the woodman but I haven’t got the heart (or probabally the skill) to use it. Putting deisel down the runns was another helpful suggestion offered to me but  doesn’t  seem right either.

Good news – my Bird of paradise plant purchased about 4 years ago has 2 huge flower spikes for the 1st time – I was expecting to wait for up to 10 years – photo will be posted if they open!

Hope you have not got 2 versions of this the 1st vanished off the screen.
Just got back from the alps whrer it was -12 (with wind chill -28) when we left. this made the -4 on sunday night seem warm here in the west.
Much progress in 10 days since I ventured into our garden. Minature daffs are out, even more crocusses and snowdrops appearing and the early heathers are now out with the winter ones.
The dry week has sorted out the boggy ground so I rotavated the veg plot getting lovely crumbly soil for some very happy robins to forrage for buggs.
My neighbour planted out his1st earlies in Feb – I am still holding back because of the hard frosts at least 6 days a week here. I will watch with interest the progress in our two plots.
My out of date broad bean seeds planted before christmas are all10” and many flowering (in an unheated greenhouse) too soon? or will I get a bumper early crop – we’ll see. As they are so old I didn’t even expect germination.

Another 2″ snow on the 6-8″ already on the ground. No gardening possible since yews planted. The snow does show up how busy the garden is with wildlife activity especially at night – prints everywhere. Look in the hedgerows. They are the only places that the birds and animals can scratch around for food – the ground being less frozen and snow free. One job I have done is sort out seed packets left and made a list of what is needed for 2010 and in which month they need sowing. It saves shuffling though them all each month.