prim and proper

prims 2

Yesterday was the first real day of spring in our garden.

That is, the first day warm and sunny enough to tempt me out of the house to actually see what’s happening out there.

It was a pleasant surprise.

Far from everything being dead, as expected, there are some lovely things growing!

The forget-me-nots are just opening, peeping out from under the hedge and between blades of uncut grass at the edge of the lawn.forget me notsforget-me-notsThe oriental poppies have produced an encouraging show of greenery:oriental poppy leavesBut the stars of this spring’s show are the primroses…
primrosesprims 3primrosesI remember as a child watching Geoffrey Smith on telly.

Forever with a pair of pruning shears in hand, he seemed always hell bent on “cutting back hard”, hacking shrubs to shreds and dishing out his particular brand of tough love to plants.

I think this must’ve penetrated my subconscious and scarred me, for I am not a ruthless gardener.

I should have taken a tough approach with my prims at the end of last spring, dividing them up so they were more evenly spread across the border, giving them room to grow. But a combination of holidays away, laziness and a feeling of pointlessness at the very thought of gardening following such a poor summer weather-wise, meant that I didn’t bother.

As it turns out, my prims knew what to do and have turned out proper without any help from me.prims in potprimroses

thrifty

I went to run a few errands at the local shops yesterday.

Passing the florist, I coveted the beautiful display outside… But I had to be sensible.

There are only so many pretty things that can be afforded.

Some, however, can come for free.

When I got home, I picked thrift for my kitchen table.

I also found that the sun had coaxed out the first flowers in my hanging basket.

The wonders of having a garden.

plots of fun

I went to the spring open day at my local allotments yesterday.

I forgot to take my camera – boo.

But I bought a lovely handmade obelisk for my sweet peas – yay!

Nottingham has a long history of allotment gardening. I don’t have an allotment, but the feasibility of having one has been discussed in our household more than once.

The St Anns Allotments are the oldest and largest detached town gardens in Britain, possibly the world, and they are about 10 minutes walk from my house.

The Grade 2* listed site has a unique history and heritage and has been used by people for more than 600 years.

By the 1840s the site was established as ‘pleasure gardens’ to provide space and an opportunity for those who lived in the city to grow their own food and to escape the confines of urban life. Although the size has changed slightly over time, the gardens are still in their original 1830s layout.

There are 670 individual gardens on three connected sites: Hungerhill Gardens, Stonepit Coppice Gardens and Gorsey Close Gardens.

Some plots still contain Victorian buildings, such as wonderful summerhouses and glasshouses.

Cue some serious shed envy!

There is a fabulous gallery showing more pictures of the allotments (including some of the sheds!) here.

I got so inspired by all the lovely plots that I spent the rest of the day in the garden.

I also bought strawberry plants, to extend our patch. Those went in.

And I tidied up the lawn edge, got halfway through cutting one stretch of hedge (soooo tiring with hand shears!) and installed the obelisk to hold up my floppy marguerites.

A day well spent.

As for getting an allotment, well, maybe that’s a plot for the future…

garden morning

I have returned from Dorset with a taste for the outdoors.

Time to forsake the sewing machine (for the morning).

To pull – weeds aplenty. To plant – herbs and lettuces.

And those mystery bulbs in the big pot.

Alliums, I think, seeded from last-year-but-one and potted up. No flower heads, but that’s to be expected. Alliums take their time, coming to flower only after several years of getting themselves comfy.

I rather respect them for that.

I am quite proud of my flower border. Created – by me – from scratch, from a weedy patch covered in membrane and gravel.

Primroses are just finishing, forget-me-nots, brought from my parents’ garden, tumble everywhere.

Marguerites and aquilegia are just about to burst forth. Pinks have opened.

The herb patch is coming along.

We have always grown herbs, in pots and planters, but we needed more.

Now they have a raised bed of their own.

For dinner there will be new potatoes.

With mint.

Yum.

the best laid plans…

Today’s spring sunshine got me all excited to get outdoors and plant stuff.

The only problem was, life got in the way.

After breakfast, schlepping around the supermarket and diy shop, hanging washing on the line, checking out a craft fair and wrangling over a particularly crash-happy eBay listing, there wasn’t too much of the day left.

Never mind.

My flowerbed is dug. The raised beds are almost ready for planting. And I now have paint for the garden furniture.

Tomorrow is a new day. Set fair.