A spot of shopping

Shopping isn’t madly me.   But give me some saved up euros and two garden centres to visit while I’m down in town and just stand back and be appalled.

I haven’t been to Jacquet, the large plant nursery at St Peray for ages. And I wanted to see if they had any of my thyme plants I so desperately crave.   I didn’t get far into the giant space before I had spotted lavender grosso plants for just over three euros, and then glory be, some thyme plants for just over two.   How can a plant so healthy and shrubby only costs 2 euros 15?  I grabbed all they had, 12 in total, and went looking for some staff to beg for more.

I need about 50 to plant the whole bed in the plum garden below the house.   They didn’t alas. But I did spot some perovskia which I’ve been wanting to buy. So it was a fantastically fruitful trip.   I filled the car, tying every plant in and then went off to another nursery to see what I could nab.   Four more thyme plants here (slightly more expensive, but a bargain really) and some seed potatoes for the spring.

Then I had just enough room (after a massive grocery shop) to fit in seven big bags of the Castorama cheapo mulch. They actually market it as potting compost, but you wouldn’t see me putting it anywhere near a seed. It’s more dusty mulch than anything else. So perfect for covering the soil.

I emptied most of the bags of compost onto the top part of my new beds. There’s no way I’d put the poor thyme plants in this week; we’re expecting a visit from Siberia in the form of storms later this week.   But they look neat and tidy with their blanket of brown.

I had just a few bags left to finish the huge soft fruit orchard up above on the next terrace.   I do so love this pause before the surge of spring.