Seeds and Stuff - March 2015

March has been a cold month so there hasn't been much progress with the seeds I've already sown this year - except for the carrots.  Hundreds of carrots!   I think I probably need to thin them out before planting out, but they're not going out yet - much too cold.  I've still got my heating on and it's usually turned firmly off on 31 March each year.  Not likely yet though.

The March seeds are mainly all foodie with a couple of flowery things thrown in for good measure.

Mary and Jim gave me a couple of fruits from their passionflowers last year, so I've sown those seeds too. My plan had been to sow them directly outside (in the walled bit with the kiwi fruit which was destined for the compost bin this year, but has miraculously thrown out shoots, so has won a stay of execution for now). However, it occurred to me that I wouldn't know what they looked like as they produced seedlings and I might be inclined to pull them out, thinking they were weeds. So they are in seedling pots in the outhouse and I will plant them out when I can recognise them!

The garden is coming along nicely - still loads of tidying up to do, but one half still looks much better than the other.  I think I'm going to have hundreds of foxgloves this year - they are everywhere.

There are hundreds of buds on the camellia too - this will look beautiful, when they're all out.

Finn has been helping me in the garden again - little tinker gets in all the small spaces that I need to be!

The primrose has got much bigger this year and is still flowering well, despite lots of flowers having gone over.

This is a first for me - I don't remember ever seeing little flowers on the azalea before now?  

The forget-me-not is taking over the garden which I'm not at all cross about - they're so pretty.  The above picture is forget-me-not and Finn's paw - he always wants to be in the photos and I was trying to push him out of the way - not very successfully!

The front garden is looking lovely too with plenty of flowers.  I've been giving the two conifers and the tamarisk a bit of a haircut - they are threatening to overhang the pavement so I give them the occasional haircut to protect passersby.  I would like to cut them all down, but I'm too sentimental about the tamarisk - it was originally a cutting that Dad took from their garden in Bacton up on the North Norfolk coast.  They've moved twice since then and I loved that garden.  I might try and take some smaller cuttings myself - this one's got a huge great trunk now and is pretty ugly all year, except for a beautiful burst of pink in May/ June. 

I'm not at all bothered about the conifers going, but one of them seems to have a steel pole growing inside it - I think it was probably used as a stake to make it stand upright when it was first planted, but the tree has grown around it, so I'm not sure how long the pole is.   I guess I will have to keep that one.   The other one seems unencumbered by scaffolding so should come down quite easily?  It will leave a massive hole out the front but, as it stands beside the arch, I think it would be nice to have a fragrant climber covering that?   So many plans!

The pink geranium has hundreds of buds on and looks beautiful plonked in among the hyacinths which give a lovely waft of fragrance when I come home from work.

I don't remember planting all this muscari so I'm assuming the bulbs have split and made more plants?

This is not a great picture! The climbing hydrangeas are taking over the walls of the house now which is fab - the flowers will make it more interesting than the bare bricks.

I've also got wild garlic out the front, flowering beautifully.  These came from Mum and Dad's garden in North Walsham and have survived the journey very well.

So, that's the March horticultural progress.   Everything is moving so quickly now but the clocks went forward last weekend, which means I've got at least an extra hour every evening after work to be busy in the garden.   I think I'm going to need it!