Even here in “Wet Wales” we have had very little rain.  At this time [...]]]>

April has been a totally bonkers month ….  my brown arms would indicate that it is June, Shedman has small courgettes in the veg garden and some of the dahlias would like to flower. It is all simply wrong.

Even here in “Wet Wales” we have had very little rain.  At this time of year there is still a lot of water running under our garden which means the mature trees and shrubs have not suffered too much.  However any new plantings or divisions that I have put in this year are very sad. The harsh East Wind that has been around for the past 5 days has been the killer. Desiccating many of the plants.

Yesterday my plan was to take the pictures for the EOM post but on Sunday night we had gale force squalls through the garden uprooting plants and bringing down large branches from the pine trees, which squashed a planting of sweet rocket, tulips and white foxgloves that was just beginning to look really pretty. Fortunately these are all annuals/biennials so really; in the scheme of things no harm done, just disappointing.

The high winds have blown the tulips away the exception being these T. “Orange favourite”  - which go to the top of the class in my book.  They have been delightfully OTT for the past 10 days or so and while they may look rather dishevelled they hung on to their petals whatever the wind threw at them. In fact the tulips have been lovely this year, and I am sad that I have not had time to post about them – I may have to do a tulip retrospective when I get some breathing space!

April has been a busy month for me – and I feel that I have not been in the my own garden, all my time seems to have been divided between other gardens and tending seedlings, young plants (for my garden) and summer bedding plants for customers. If I never see another begonia again that will be fine. However the new “HQ” is working quite well and I am pleased with the layout.  Below is a picture of the elusive Shedman helping out with the watering. Something that seems to involve a lot of hours by both of us twice a day.

The biggest change in the garden proper is that we – (well when I say we I mean Shedman). We have taken up the last bit of lawn that we wanted to get rid of (Sorry Mum!) and replaced it with gravel – although it looks stark now, when the surrounding planting is in place it will have the effect I am after. This leaves us with enough lawn by the house to put a table and chairs on which is more than enough for us.

The planting for the “hot border” and the “cottage border” is still in the polytunnel but generally I feel that the garden is bumbling along nicely and I have some great planting thoughts for next year involving a lot more bulbs.

Thanks go to Helen / Patient Gardener for this meme – which, although I am a couple of days late, I find very useful