Getting my hands dirty.......

I finally got going today and did some gardening. Is there a more heartwarming sight for a gardener than freshly raked soil waiting to be planted?

I was supposed to be getting the vegetable border ready for cloches and planting the first crops of salad greens, beetroot etc. But at the beginning of the season when there are so many things to be done I get a bit distracted. I seem to spend an inordinate length of time looking for tools that are not hanging where they should be or going to and from the garden shed to collect things I've forgotten. Then there's my garden gloves. I keep leaving them places...

 

When I eventually got going on the veggie border (you get an idea of it's length by having a look at the garden plans page) I discovered the remnants of the green manure that I had put down last autumn and a rash of calendula seedlings (see above), hypericum and Leycesteria formosa.

I also came across three large hostas that had been dug in last year as there were no pots big enough for them.and they needed dividing. I'm loath to throw anything out especially as  plants will be needed for the  stall on the Open gardens Day (2-5pm Sunday 3rd July -Look forward to seeing you there) I managed to divide them into 12 good sized plants and put them into another spare part of the border. Again not enough plant pots of the right size.....

As you can see I used lot of the plastic pot supply for alliums ordered last year. They are for the gaps that we haven't yet discovered in the flower border. I may have overdone the ordering (again!)

The new cloche that Paul made me is full already with onions and garlic hardening off ready to be planted out. There's also the first green salad leaves of the year and the plants recently acquired from Elizabeth McGregor's nursery.

These are the heritage Broad Beans ready to be hardened off.