Even Nearer!!

A very tidy greenhouse...

..with neat labelling!

Have been madly tidying .....

.........everywhere - trimming, edging, weeding, sweeping, titivating etc.  Only 24rs left before the final mow and edging.  The greenhouse has never looked so tidy I even labelled Chris's tomato plants!  The Garage Gallery is really taking shape and now even has a plant stall outside.  Denise also brought some super cushions for Chris's seat.  Al has been shopping for teas and coffee and friends have really rallied round and cakes are rolling in - phew!  Even the weather forecast is favourable.  Fingers crossed!

If only there was time to sit on it!

Beginnings of an art exhibition

Meanwhile Denise and her team were slaving in the garage and turning it into an art gallery with more exhibits coming tomorrow.  Even in a half finished state, it's looking nothing like a garage!

No going back now!

As Open Gardens loom even closer, things have been pretty frenetic with little time for blogging.  Plenty of outrageously early starts and achingly late finishes.  Even so much has been achieved and things are looking pretty tidy.  Because of the atrociously cold spring, hardening off greenhouse plants has been later than ever before.  Still, with any luck visiting gardeners will understand.  The  much moved Hostas have put on growth and, we might even have some roses in bloom for the weekend.  The greenhouse has had a late spring clean and the potting bench has seen much activity.  The pots and urns which Chris brought have all been filled.  The nice lady from NGS has organised help with serving teas and more cakes have been promised (phew!)

More Cast Iron

Found at the Spring Garden Show...

...a new addition for the shady side of Chris's wall. A bit of cherub-like rusting cast iron ornamentation found at the Garden Show.  It's  rather small to plant up and then there's always the responsibility of remembering to water something that's likely to dry out every 5 seconds so, we'll probably leave it as it is.

Homeless Hostas on the Move - Again!

It's been a couple of weeks since Chris rounded up all our Hostas, divided them (and brought 3 of his own) and planted up a dedicated Hosta bed.  What happened on Saturday?  I spotted a couple more that had popped up in the Woodland Border.  I bought one from the Spring Garden Show and had popped that one in. Yet another was awaiting planting with 4 bags of bark chip all bought using nectar points at Homebase.  The trouble began when Chris spotted Bindweed roots whilst digging a planting hole for the very last one - the Homebase Hosta.  That meant he lifting out 8 more of the newly planted ones and then digging a massive hole 2 feet deep (and about 8 miles across!) to access and remove all the Bindweed roots.  The lovely settled bed looked like a bomb crater with Hostas scattered around!  Chaos! Eventually after ages of careful digging and sifting, we removed half a bucket of healthy, stealthy Bindweed roots and then couldn't remember where all the removed Hostas had been planted in the first place! All had to be laid out again (sigh!) along with the 2 new ones, replanted and then the bark chip carefully mulched around each plant.   If I see any trace of Bindweed in the Hostas this summer, you may hear screams!  As for slugs..........!

Trough Work

After Chris Genever single handedly lugged this massively heavy stone trough from the well up on to the terrace (patio to him!) I thought it was about time I got some plants in.  Having ensured maximum drainage and put in a layer of grit, I made up a fairly gritty mix, placed in a few pieces of stone and put in  a few Alpines - all purchases from Malvern Spring Garden Show.

Bees in Trees - in Plague Proportions!

A sunny and much warmer day and jobs included lawn edging and planting out Pinks, Petunias and Aeoniums and moving other plants from the greenhouse and into the cold frames for hardening off.

Bees in the apple trees

Whilst lawn edging, I heard a loud droning - rather like machinery.  Wondering what it was, I looked up into the Prunus Serrula above and saw that the entire tree was alive with bees.  I have never seen or heard so many bees at one time.  The noise was astonishing.  They were definitely not swarming and all were busy going about their business. On many of them, I could see the pockets on their hind legs bulging with pollen.  This is a big mature tree and it was literally full of bees!  The funny thing is that this tree is grown for its shiny peeling bark which is a real feature in winter.  The flowers are small, pale and insignificant. It is covered in blossom all of which appeared to be moving with the vast numbers of bees moving around the blooms.  We hear nothing but doom and gloom about the ever decreasing numbers of bees, their decline due to Verroa and sudden hive collapse which made this all the more amazing!  It was like a plague of bees infesting a single tree.  It's not as if there weren't huge numbers in the apple trees 'cos there were - just nothing like the prunus!  Absolutely no shortage of pollinators here!

A whole tree of bees!