Hopeful spring

[stree]

Went out to do the morning duties, let the bantams out and feed them, open up the stable doors of the pigsty where Rosie the rabbit lives and check her water and give her breakfast..........That rabbit certainly makes use of her time.......Her latest hobby is her new plaything, a plastic handbrush, she grabs it by the bristles and charges around with it..........stopping to sit upright and shake it about like a dog with a rag doll, then charging round with it banging and clattering into everything..........stops for a nibble of grub then off again.........
Then on to the greenhouse.....Me, not the rabbit....All ok ,some things really ready for potting on but will be planted out (hopefully) in a week or so, so hardly worth re-potting now. Got 2 hanging baskets relined, absorbent mats in, water retaining crystals in and fresh compost. Ready for planting out.
Very chilly outside, so did not hang about, back in for a cup of tea..............
By the way, when I repot tomatoes I always replant them right up to the bottom leaves, ( which are then removed). The reason being, those fine white hairs on the stem will form fresh roots, so take more water and nutrients and have a better hold in the soil..all makes a better plant......
So, just waiting for some sunshine now......................

This is home...........................https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wootto...h_Lincolnshire

[stree]

Beautiful day.......Made a start on the pots and tubs...........Got a courgette planted out in a big tub, planted out two terracotta bowls, 14" hanging basket size........Mix of bedding petunias, calibroacha ( million bells), lobelia and miniature amaranthus ( Love lies bleeding)
Some trailing mini toms will be going into same size containers, maybe in hanging baskets too...... Full size outdoor toms into large containers next...................Then maybe tomorrow make a start with outdoor garden seedlings.. About 100 everlasting flower seedlings, a dozen Cosmos ( maybe in a big pot, not sure yet) and 20 nicotiana.................which will demand a lot of room each!
Absolutely exhausted now..............but have to be ready for visitors after tea,coming to take stacks of timber..... some for burning, some I will never get round to using now.................Oak, mahogany, beech, sycamore.......some lovely hardwoods...........But most of my machinery now sold or given away, so may as well give stuff to folk who will use it .............Robins are nesting in the workshops again as they do every year... have to keep an eye out for baby robins underfoot for a while...............

Am I the only gardener on here?
Just wondering.................................

[stree]

Grim day health wise, but did what I could, albeit more slowly than may have appeared useful! Nevertheless, results, even though modest, by the end of the day.
Finally got all four hanging baskets planted out and hung in place..........Stuck to same formulae for each.........just felt like doing it that way, two bedding petunias in the centre, three calibroacha nearer the edge, ( mini trailing petunia) and three trailing lobelia between those........Some small pots done too, similar mix but with Amaranthus Claudatus too. ( love lies bleeding)
Also visited the local nursery for some plants that are a bit "further on". These are for the four window boxes at the front which is south facing and a bit more demanding for young plants..............These are getting a mix of Calibroacha, Surfinia, Nemesia, Bacopa, trailing Lobelia, Verbena and whatever else may take my fancy later.........Oh and yet more Amaranthus Claudata...
Plus the tomatoes are ready for potting on and the mini tumbling Toms should be going into their final pots and baskets...............Still three more courgettes to plant out too,. and 20 Nicotiana, 20 sunflowers, 10 or so Cosmos, 2 Achillia ( Yarrow) even more of everything that went into the hanging baskets and between 100 and 150 Heliachrysum seedlings..( Strawflower, Everlasting flower)
I try to just concentrate on small task by small task otherwise it would seem overwhelming..Oh and retied the sweetpeas again as they really start to get their growth going.........Doing well......
Might have a change tomorrow..............Spend some time with the angle grinder, jig saw, pop rivet gun and drill and some electronics, for the alterations I am making to a case for the next computer I will be putting together.............
Anything but stopping and gazing into space..............Even though I depend on my mobility scooter to do most of the above! Gardening and everything else..............

[stree]

Tough couple of days, but managed a little today: Planted out the nicotianas ( evening scented tobacco plants), repotted a tumbling Tom mini trailing type, into a terracotta bowl, final pot........will leave in the greenhouse for a week then outside with it..... 6 more of those to plant out............. I have to do the strawflowers next, really should be planted out by now.......... and lots more just waiting for me.........

[stree]

Lots of drizzle today.........But the sweetpeas are in bloom..................

[stree]

Weeded a patch ready for about 100 Everlasting flower seedlings, potted on a few toms, baskets doing well, so had a break...
Went round the village, only about a mile circuit, me on my mobility scooter, Grandaughter on her scooter she got for Christmas.......Lots of lilacs in bloom, and along the long hedgerows on the back road, sent her to get the scent of the May blossom, jogged her memory on plant names, shared some bread and cheese from the hawthorns, lovely sunny day................(Thursday)
Then home, and she swapped the scooter for the bike that is really too small for her now, and along to the far end of the village, to the crossroads, where there is a large expanse of grass and a bench.......Profuse with tiny daisies, so showed her how to make a daisy chain..........and taught her that if a buttercup held under the chin reflected yellow, then you are in love........
Then home for tea, until her Mum got home from work.
Not very much gardening, apart from watering in the greenhouse, and the weeding, but a day with nature, and much more.
A good day.

[stree]

Began the day as usual, let the chickens out and feed them...........Then open the pigsty to feed Rosie rabbit.....( the stable door has a chicken wire door behind, so air and light but keeps her in)..She is really taken with her new toy, the old handbrush. romping around with it shaking it like a dog would, up on her back legs and the rushing around with it.......pulled up a few sods of grass for her to compliment her cereal as well.
Setting off back I locked eyes with a pretty bird on the guinea pig cage, well not so much a cage, more an aviary type affair, but built for the guinea pigs. anyway, this bird had a scarlet face, bright white yellow and black streaked wings, it almost instantly flew off.. Identified it as a goldfinch..............Nice to know they are around again this year. Saw a chaffinch as well a little later, then a duck and a drake appeared on the lawn. not sure what they had in mind..........
I planted out most of the everlasting flower seedlings yesterday, so they had a good soak with the rain since then.....
So much in bloom............Aquilegia swaying regally, forget me nots strewn like little jewels all around, bright marigolds clustered in groups as and where they want, Potentilla with its flock of tiny white blooms like snowflakes, heavily scented wallflower with rich red velvet petals, Love in a mist just fit to burst its bright blue blooms,a small flowered purple geranium flowers profusely in almost spherical clumps, the first few sweetpeas of course, and the paeony forming its deep pink buds the size of chestnuts, a promise of later magnificence....
I am sure there are more that I have overlooked........
It makes me think, I have the temerity to dig holes and put in seedlings in the vain quest of improving on this?? Nature is an impossible act to beat, but so many of us still have the urge to do just that, or at least to complement it as best we can..I hope it is always thus.
I might be drawing to my own winter, but spring in the garden stays in my heart.

[stree]

The ones I overlooked are Weiglia, anemone, a frilly leafed geranium with upright stems and pink and white flowers, name unknown, violets,hypericum, white green and chocolate/pink, lots of self sown about, bacopa and nemesia in bloom too.
Honesty is in bud as well, as is a clematis which is scrambling up some canes and strings.
Too tired to do much today, but on my circuit of the village I stopped and chatted with a lady that has plants for sale, mainly annuals......I got some more Bacopa and a couple of surfinias for the pots./containers......
Anyway, the garden will still be there tomorrow, so hopefully I can get something done then......

[stree]

............And London Pride,and Foxglove, Herb Robert,( a weed I know,but pretty in the lesser tended spot), Mahonia, Budleia Globosa,and probably more...........
Slugs and snails are having a nibble at the pots, seem to prefer calibroacha.( million bells)nibbled to a sorry stalk.........I will replace these eventually, I have some in reserve to go in when further on and less prone to attack....They also have been at the Everlasting flower seedlings, and the Nicotiana seedlings...... but I think enough will survive.
I am resisting the urge to use those blue slug pellets..................Slug eats them, dies. Bird eats slug and dies, or feeds to chicks in the nest which die.......Same goes for hedgehogs, garden voles...and more..........The convenience of the pellets is far outweighed by the toll they take on garden life....I try to work with nature, not against it.
Still not worked up the oomph to plant the front window boxes.............Trays and trays of mature seedlings ( many in flower) sat in the open greenhouse waiting for a home. Maybe tomorrow.......Manyana? Hmmmmmmmmmmm.Manyana seems like a frantic rush the rate I am going.
Anyway, everything got a good soaking tonight.....fitted a better spray gun to the hose, and happy with it.
Lots of birdsong chorusing away as I watered, so many different and new tweets coos and chirrups without having to get up at daybreak to enjoy.
One thing I treasure about living in this small village, is that unlike the inner city or larger town, neighbours do know each other better...........and tend not to blast drum & base, garage, hip-hop, trance or any other sort of dumbed down muzak in the garden the moment the sun should shine..........Bliss... The distant hum of mowers, family chatter, children playing, that is noise enough and I care not a jot if that labels me one thing or another......I have lived enough seasons to know which I prefer and nature and its own show and song win hands down every time...........

[firebird]

I love your beautiful descriptions. What a lot of plants you are growing. All of your animals as well, how wonderful