Some pictures of the progress

Veg patch and orchard beyond

Veg patch coming to life

Lifting turf off new border, hard work!

Could add some more photos, but my internet speeds so slow it takes ages. !!!

Under the new border I have found a pile of builders hardcore, one wheelbarrow full so far. It is alos as stony as the other side with about a metre dug over (2.5m wde bed)  and 3 trugs of big stones pulled out.

We spent sunday chicken and dog proofing the hedge. Plugging all the gaps with chicken wire. The hedge will be one side of the chicken run that is getting fencing in tomorrow. The chickens have wrecked the little bit of ground they have been confined to over the last few weeks. They go crazy for a square of turf, and they pace the boundary of the enclosure when they see me digging, desperate to get to the worms they just know I am digging up for them.

Today I have potted on the courgettes and some Cosmos. There is no sign of life in the Verbena seeds I sowed around the same time, must be a bad lot. Will give it one more try. We have also erected our mini greenhouse, as housing for the pots taking over the conservatory.

Seed sowing continues....

First sowing of peas are now done 'Kelveden Wonder', have also sowed Parnsip 'Gladiator' and a little edge of chives all around the currant bed. Second sowings of various lettuces, carrots, spinach and radishes. Everything has started germinating except for the garlic, there is no sign of life at all!

The weather was great on Friday and I could not resist lifting a bit more turf to extend the flower border. I still have loads of pots of perennial which have to find a home somewhere. I managed to lift about 4.5m2 of area and dig it over. I did a rough planting plan to include what is in so far and made a little list of what I want further down the border, shrub wise.
Yesterday we took the kids to Chester Zoo and visited a friend who has just moved down to rural Cheshire. He has a big garden project of his own to tackle and I am hoping will let me help him at some point.  On the way home we popped into Blue bell gardens and nursery and I had a bit of a spending spree, buying up some damp loving plants including Ligularia 'The Rocket', Rodgersia 'Chocolate Wings' and Rheum palmatum. The children helped me plant them up this evening with some Hosta ' Blue Angel',  I think and Iris 'Gerald Darby'.

March madness

Its still early on in the month, and I am still biding my time, before planting/sowing outside, as the weather can be so unpredictable. I have started off some beans, artichokes, sweetcorn, basil, & parsley in trays/pots. They are all on the window sills of the conservatory. The beans and artichokes seem to germinate almost overnight, closely followed by the basil.  I take a look every day willing the little green shoots to appear.

The grass is growing like billy oh, the cutting cannot be put off much longer. I took delivery of another lawn mower last week. Our lawn mower, according to the lawnmower repair man is for cutting nice short fine lawns and should not be used on field grass. He was very upset by the treatment we were dishing out to it last year, despite the money he was making on repairing it every five minutes. We now have a tough old rotary Honda, lets see how this one holds up. D day, or should I say M day is Saturday.  As the grass is growing now, I have given my supply of ornamental grasses a no 2 haircut. Fresh new shoots appeared the very next day.

Planted up the raspberry canes, varieties I have bought are Octavia and Glen Lyon. Hubby and I rigged up some posts and wire supports, which I was very pleased with. I was muttering away while fixing up the wires and sounded just like my Dad. I always was dads little helper when I was a kid. (Hi Pop!).
Re-potted a couple of blueberry bushes, and planted a couple of rows of strawberry plants, donated by a friend. As I was planting the strawberries, the chickies were behind me scratching them up, so their freedom has been curtailed. They are confined to their little run for the time being. I have asked a fencer to price up fencing for a decent sized run for the chickies and basic fencing around the veg plot. I feel this is essential to give the hedge time to grow, and to give some added protection for the plot, from the wind, and visiting creatures, on the hunt for a free lunch.

Veg beds warming under plastic sheeting

Must get onto planting the onion sets........

Ready for Spring

Orchard planting completed, so Spring can come now anytime it wants. The grass in the Orchard is very long, so its not going to be long before I will have to cut it. The plan is to turn this into a meadow, but that will be a job for later this year. I am not sure whether to cut the turf off, then seed or try and seed into the existing field grass???
All the veg beds are now dug over and manured where necessary (ie everywhere, appart from the 'roots' bed. ) We have been on our shopping trip to Caldbeck's potato day. There were, as they advertised 100 varieties of seed potatoes. It was frustrating as I had already bought mine. Oh well, its in the diary for next year. We did come away with rasp canes, onion sets, various, and loads and loads of Rebekahs veg seeds. Hubby chose a horseradish plant (with warning about is ability to take over!!)

The kids cannot wait to start sowing, and neither can I.