Summer Bulbs

Another day pottering in between spring showers: a big effort to sort out the containers split between the kitchen patio and the lower patio (near the workshop) was required, as many are now out of season, or empty, and we needed to plant summer bulbs.

We isolated the empty containers (read 'dead') and put them to one side, and swapped the others around to get those in season, or coming into season, onto the patio outside the kitchen, and those that have gone over or are a way off being attractive back on the lower patio (the 'storage' patio). This meant moving the 100-odd strawberry runners that took out of sight (ready to go in the putative second strawberry bed), and bringing things like an astilbe, lilac and rose round to be seen.

The empty pots were crucially needed, though, for summer bulbs. We've planted 40 gladioli into some, with the same number again to go in in a couple of weeks; they'll either be put somewhere attractive when they bloom, or cut to bring inside. We also planted 25 single freesias, for the same purpose. I think they may be a little tricky to bring into bloom every year, but it'll be an interesting challenge.

We then dug out more plastic pots to continue the sowing extravaganza that is March/April. Fifteen new sowings, including pumpkins, courgettes, tomatoes, various salad leaves, coleus, clarkia, beetroot, beans, and chrysanthemums. We are rapidly running out of window-sill space (which annoys the cats, who like to watch the world go by)! The germinated seeds are doing quite well inside, and we'll probably start planting them out in a week or two.