Coming Out from Under the Weather

I had a full day in the garden yesterday - from about 9.30am to about 5.30pm.  I really, really needed it and it was brilliant.  The recent run of grey, cold weather had really been getting me down and, combined with an intensive - shall we say - week at work I was starting to feel really depressed.  Like many people who suffer from depression my well-being is solar-powered, and I badly needed re-charging.  And I got it!  What a day - blue skies, fluffy clounds, sweet breeze.  All the ingredients of a perfect Spring day were there.  I made the most of it too, with some serious pottering. 

First of all, I weeded the raised beds in the front garden and weeded the flower border in the back garden, and I also dug the periwinkle out of the flower border in the back garden.  I planted it a couple of years ago for ground cover, but I've never really been happy with the way it looked.  And now, unlile in previous years when I've not had so much free time and energy for the important things in life such as gardening, I have great plans for my flower border which mean that ground cover has actually become a disadvantage.  Re: my plans for my flower border, I ran amok on the Sutton's website - which, wonderfully, has a whole category of flowers that are "attractive to bees" - the other week and bought the most fantastic array of seeds.  I want my flower border to be an absolute riot of pinks and purples this Summer, relieved by splashes of white.  It will probably be overcrowed, it will probably look gaudy, and I can't wait! This is what I bought:

Cosmea Sensation Tall Mix Seeds
Dimorphotheca Glistening White Seeds
Geranium Colour Magic Seeds
Larkspur Little Rocket Mix Seeds
Lavatera trimestris Loveliness Seeds
Nicotiana Affinis Seeds
Osteospermum Ecklonis Mix Seeds
Salvia farinacea Victoria Seeds
Verbena Imagination Seeds

And, for pots in the front garden, I bought some of my favourite Nigella damascena Miss Jekyll Seeds to go with the blue anemones and blue agapanthus I've already planted.  Also planted are some seriously gaudy pink and white dahlias - I can't wait for them to make an appearance.

Once I'd got rid of the periwinkle I could see the shape of the flower border a bit better, so I used some of Alastair's off-cuts to mark it out properly.  It doesn't look perfect, but I'm actually really pleased with it.  Alastair says it needs to be sunk in a bit deeper, and I think he's right, but that's a job for another day.

In amongst all this hard work, I was glorying in the sunshine and May skies, and took the opportunity to take some photos of Clematis Montana in full flower.  I was beginning to think that the sun wouldn't come back until he'd stopped flowering!

I also took some last photos of my red tulips before they are over.  They are an amazing colour, and with the sun shining through them look almost cartoon-like in their brightness.  They have given me an amazing amount of pleasure, totally out of proportion to the effort it took to plant the bulbs.  That's one of the things I love about gardening - you make a small effort, and your garden repays you a thousand-fold.  It's the opposite of instant gratification, a deeper, much more satisfying pleasure.

Finally in the front garden, my strawberries are in flower!

Then I moved into the back garden.  My onions/shallotts are through!  Can you tell which they are Dad?!

I also planted my broad beans out. 

Later, I snugged them up in fleece to protect them from the frost.

Then it was time for a bit of potting on.  After a bit of pampering - alternate stints next to the radiator and under, rather than on, the windowsill - some of the melons have germinated.

The tomatoes are doing really well.

I potted both the melons and tomatoes on and put them into their new home in the coldframe.

Although Alastair moved the melons back inside this morning because they don't like direct sunlight - trust him to grow faddy fruit!

I then planted some oregano, basil and rosemary seeds, and some nicotiana, verbena and geraniums.  Such tiny little seeds, I find it hard to believe that they will become plants.  It's always nerve-wracking waiting for them to germinate!  At least they've got some more sun today as they sit in their windowsill home.

Finally finally, I helped Alastair with the final stages of the fence between our garden and Yvonne's.  He just wanted some company really.  He got all the posts in save one, and the bottom rails.  You can just see one of the posts in this picture, waiting for its rails.

Brilliant day!