A New Lavender Hedge . Replacement Plants . The Heron Saga

Spring has finally arrived, and suddenly everyone has something to blog about.  At this time of year I just can't keep up with commenting and reading other people's posts, they are coming thick and fast, so I apologise if I haven't been able to visit you recently.  There is just so much to do in the garden and greenhouse which has been limiting my computer time quite considerably. Now if only the gales we have been having would go back to where they came from I would really like to get on with organising the garden.

I mentioned last week that my Lavender was looking the worse for wear after the harsh winter so I decided, in the end, to replace it with new plants.  Homebase were selling 3 for £9 - healthy looking and bushy, so I bought two lots.  I have put them in a new position and they look so much better than the scraggy old ones.

I lost quite a few plants over winter so I have replaced those too.

l to r:  aubretia / lavatera (barnsley)/ dianthus / erysimum

It seems that the plants fared better that disappeared underground - those on the surface perished.

It has been an expensive week in the garden - at the weekend we bought bamboo fencing to act as a windbreak at the top of the garden (pictures next week hopefully) and three bags of shredded bark to top up the paths plus a new grow-house cover.

I like to add a new fruit tree every year and decided on a patio peach as my choice for this year.

I have never tried to grow a peach treee before, not sure how long it will take to fruit - if it ever does - but there are plenty of buds on it so I will just have to wait and see.

Elsewhere in the garden there is definitely an improvement, lots of spring things have come into flower - so at least the garden doesn't look quite as bleak as it did a couple of weeks ago.

And I have been sowing lots of flower seed to fill in all the gaps that are bound to appear as the year wears on - quite a few have already germinated.

Sorry that this has been such a long post - but there seems to be a lot to fit in this week - things are moving along quite nicely.

Memory Corner

I thought I would show you a picture of my gorgeous red-haired boy Dusty aka Dustyboots - he died a few years ago now but is still greatly missed - our neighbour christened him SCUD 'cos when he saw a cat in the garden he was out through the redundant cat flap like a SCUD missile.



A Book to Read

They forget that their wives had an important meeting that morning;

they forget to pick up the dry cleaning;

some of them even forget their wedding anniversary.

But Vaughan has forgotten he even has a wife - her name, her face,

everything they ever did together - it has all gone, mysteriously

wiped in one catastrophic moment of memory loss.  And now he has

rediscovered her - only to find that they are getting divorced.

Is it too late for him to turn back the clock and reclaim his life?

I am always moaning that my garden looks pretty dull in winter

so when I found this book for £1.50 in a charity shop

I snapped it up - maybe I'll see an improvement in the garden next winter now.

and finally

The Heron Saga

You remember I had to cover the pond because I had spotted a Heron at the top of the garden - well, my husband took the net off at the weekend whilst he was cleaning out the pump or something and didn't replace it. 

DISASTER

The Heron must have been down early the next morning and this happened

I don't know whether you can see this clearly but the fish, our largest,

has a big bruise right around the eye - but the eye socket is

empty.

The Heron must have attempted to catch it and pecked its eye out.

GRRR.

We are just hoping no infection will set in.  The fish seems okay for the moment.

And guess what - the beloved soon put the net back on.

Talk about shutting the door after the horse has bolted.

Hey ho!