Looking out the window

I was looking out of the window to see what I needed to wear when I went down to the shop for my coffee and it was beautiful. Blue sky and the sun beaming down with just a light breeze so just a sweat-shirt to get me along to the shop and back.

I strode out of the front door, thinking about thing like suntan lotion for perhaps the first twenty-five yards and then I broke into a jog because sunshine or not, it was bloody cold, averaging four or five degrees.

I bought the coffee, told everyone in sight that I was a fitness freak and ran home before I froze to death.

This changes my plans to move the pansy's and the black viola's outside at this point in time. Possibly in a week or two it will have warmed up a little and the plants will hopefully survive.

Not at the moment though, regardless of sunlight :(

We are into the second half of spring

Some year this is turning out to be. We are well into May, we are into the second half of spring and when I got up this morning it looked like there was potential.

The sun was creeping out from behind the clouds so I got all the rubbish ready to be picked up and took it out for collection. When I went out it was perfect, no wind at all, so still that you couldn’t believe it, beautiful. I’m back inside and it is lashing down with hailstones.

What is going on here? There is still no wind, you can see that from the way that the hail falls – straight down, no angle to it at all. I’m wondering how long it will last, will it continue and turn life into winter again or will it resort into rain and wash all the hail and icing away – or, with a little hope, will the sun come out and put a smile to life in the second half of spring, to our journey into summer.

I have a couple of flowers that are just about ready for planting out, black viola’s and pansy’s. If it stays like this it will be a bit too cold for them.

But the second half of spring, with the sun putting just a wee bit of warmth around them, now that would be perfect.

The birds are alright

Well, the birds are alright now but what about the trees? I'll have to do a bit more looking after them, just so that they get used to my garden.

I planted three willows along with the rest of them last year and they are still with us but only one of them is the same height, the other two are now shorter which is a real heartbreaker.

Right up at the top of the two, they were dying and had to be cut and they ended up to be half the height. I'm very worried about the remaining tall one, mainly because of what happened to the other two, I think.

I'm going out now to look after them as best I can, them and the other two as well, the Austrian Pines and the black hawthorns.

Any disasters and I'll let you know immediately.

Fingers crossed, eh ;)) 

Early Gardening

I've just been around the garden and the willows actually have a chance. I pruned them back a bit because the very top of both was a bit iffy but we'll see.

Both of the black hawthorns are a surprise, a real surprise. One of then was just a stick and the other was a dead stick but in a week they've made a good difference and are coming on a treat. I don't know if it's the temperature or the sunlight but they're doing well.

The Austrian Pine are a mess, they are a disaster.The black viola's are going to take over if the pansy's, which are doing quite well, don't beat the pines first. The dead Scot's Pine is doing better than the Austrian ones. There are a couple that might live to tell the tale but.......

A tiny wee black viola

At last. At long, long last a tiny wee black viola has shown its head. I'm sure that you know what it's like. You spend a fortnight getting half a dozen wee pots ready, you plant the seeds, go to bed and when you get up in the morning and nothing has shown -  bang, immediately you get paranoid.

But today I can proudly announce that after about a couple of weeks, one has, at last but looking cheerie, shown its head. My hope is rising. Now I'll have to have a look around the rest of the pots because there are a few more to be checked and the heart is beating ;))

Now I won't settle again for ages, waiting, hoping for a few more to show their gorgeous wee green heads. And it won't be long until they get re-potted into into something a little larger.

And when September, or possibly October comes along they'll be planted outside where they will sleep over the winter and spring will eventually arrive and they'll burst into flower :))

Hopefully ;)

Thank goodness for that

Whew, thank goodness for that. I got home on time, nipped in for a quick coffee and then shot out and watered the trees and they're looking pretty good.

Even the willows and the black hawthorns that I planted last year look as if there is a possible chance with them. I'm watching to see if any leaves come out and for a while now it has looked hopefully hopeful. One thing that I can't say yet is that they are dead so I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope.

But the Austrian Pines, my heart is on them. They look so good and they already have pine nuts right at the top, tiny little things as yet but every tree has four or five there so there's a forest awaiting.

Now I need to think about some small bushes that I can grow between the trees. Never ends, does it :))

Lazy Bugger

What a lazy bugger I am. I've done nothing whatsoever to get the pansy's or the viola's, even the cactus going. At this rate they'll be just as nice in the packets next year as they are now!!!

But that is not going to happen - oh no, when I put this computer down I will kick it off like there is no tomorrow so anyone coming around with some mince and tatties tonight, I love you - the same is true of anyone delivering breakfast tomorrow morning, plenty salt in the porridge please and it will be completed by the weekend.

Just hope that it grows ;))

Although, looking at them now, there's a very good chance that some of them might actually stay in the house, they look too good to go outside in this weather. We'll see and we'll hope.

Black viola's

I had an epileptic seizure yesterday so today I'm not going out to do the work needed in the back garden. Instead, I'm going to sit here in my chair and fiddle around with my computer and look out the window and enjoy the sight of two of the pines that are at the top of the garden.

If all goes well, I'll go out at the weekend and do what needs to be done and tomorrow I'll get the pansy's, the clematis and my favourites, the black viola's started. I must admit that I'm looking forward the most to seeing  them flowering later on. There is also a new one that I've never tried before but they'll look good if they grow well and that is some cactus. I'm looking forward to seeing them, they'll be a little different.

But right now I'm going to see the doctor, with every intention of making a real nuisance of myself. That always brightens me up.