We made slow progress at the start of the month due to working away from home. This meant I missed the arrival of my long awaited greenhouse. However construction did begin in my absence...
and it was soon erected and filled on my return. Once filled with existing plants and seedlings the 20’x 8’ greenhouse had plenty of room for further sowings and potting up. The continued good weather prevented the final digging over of some of our new beds. We concentrated on planting potatoes and filling a bed with our growing euphorbia collection. It was reassuring to see signs of new growth on the raspberries and blackcurrants. April has been a month of tremendous change in the garden as the trees and shrubs have blossomed and produced fresh new leaves. An amazing sight!
We aimed to plant as many of the plants taken from our previous garden. This meant extensions to the grass bed and woodland garden. We had lots of bargains bought from nurseries last month to plant. We received a Phormium ‘Yellow wave’ from a newly established nursery in N. Ireland. (see web links for Bali-Hai Nursery) The Phormium had several healthy new shoots that I potted up on the day of its arrival. Hopefully in time it will grow into a spectacular specimen plant. We now have a growing collection of Phormiums, Euphorbias, Heucheras, Tiarellas, and their resulting cross-breeds Heucherellas. We have produced a new labelling system that we hope will help us to learn the names of all the different varieties.
The dry weather enabled our agricultural contractor to get his seven tonne tractor on the field to harrow and drill the soil. The work was completed in the second week of April but the dry warm weather has not been conducive to germination. At the end of April we still have a barren landscape apart from the growing dock! The last few days of April have been wet so we are hopeful the seed will germinate soon.
