View from indoors

Ah, a full potting shed. It’s chock full of plants.   Everything is just so reluctant to go outdoors during this cool spell. But there are some 24C days predicted later this week, so everything will have to get booted out before then.

I’m sitting in the chaise longue hoping that Artur will do a bit of lap sitting and purring.   But he barely gives me a glance as he leaps up onto the top shelf and climbs into his cashmere lined box.

It’s quite toasty up there near the roof. But I wish he would earn his keep by being a bit more friendly.

Herding cats. It’s an impossible task.   So I chose an easier task this afternoon; pool vacuuming and weeding. I’m an expert at both.

The calabert bed is fine on the level near the path, but the upper reaches were looking decidedly jungly.   But the weeding is easy as there was mainly vetch, loosely rooted clovers and other mystery plants which came up without much heaving and tearing of nails. I filled four huge sacks for the compost heap.

And I can’t believe how amazing the santolinas are. It’s funny how you can get attached to a particular plant.   These wonderful mounds of scented mediterranean plants all came from cuttings from Andrew’s original three he gave me.   They are the enormous plants in the middle of the picture. And they were my first attempt at taking cuttings.   And I succeeded and created 12 plants.   All of them are in here somewhere and just surging with growth.

I can’t believe they made it over the freezing winter. And I must confess there was a moment in February when I thought they looked very battered. But the new growth is very fluffy and plump. I will cut off their flowers smartly, as these plants have to do work as an evergreen mound rather than a not so excitingly yellow flowered plant.

I’m taking yet more cuttings and hope my new technique will work.   I am using better compost now. No more sand in the mix. We shall see if it works.

Other excitements: the aquilegias are all out.   All fun and clashing colours but they are an added element to the shade garden.  

The shade garden was predominantly white and green last year, so the new addition of the purple flowers of the honesty and these aquilegias make a refreshing change.

And I’ve taken 20 cuttings of the euphorbia polychroma and if I get some time, I’ll take 20 more.   I’m trying the new technique of using hormone rooting powder and putting the euphorbias in trays and not covering them with plastic bags.

All ideas were taken from the national collection holder of euphorbias in Britain which I saw on television last week.

And believe it or not, the collection is held at an allotment in Sheffield.    So you don’t need a grand country house to hold a collection.

I could be a national collection holder of weeds.

But when I look around the garden I can see that there are not that many places that need a lot more weeding work.

If I get time tomorrow, I might tackle the weeds growing through the gravel in the courtyard.   After I’ve tried dropping everything off at the tip.