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[Krystal]

Thank you. We too are blessed with heavy clay and have found home made compost works wonders on plants. The best organic matter I had was from a work colleague who had a horse whenever she came to my house she bought a car boot of bagged manure with her, Wonderful stuff it was. Sadly her horse passed away and she could not afford to buy another horse so that source ended. The manure I have seen for sale is more straw than anything else. Never mind have a smaller garden now so no worries my compost is sufficient.

[CLKD]

One has to put fresh manure through the compost first as it can be too acidic.

[Krystal]

Yes the manure did go in the compost bin first much to my neighbours disgust. Compost Bin was away from her house and stood well away from everything and everyone yet she complained. Even without the manure in the compost bins there were complaints. With hindsight we should have got a beehive. BZZ BZZZ.

[CLKD]

On top of the compost?  Ours never smells and if it begins to whiff we put a shovel of clean earth over it.  My family has been composting for over 100 years 

[littleminnie]

All the bulbs are up in our hanging baskets.  Spring is on its way 

[AgathaC]

Yes, Littleminnie, the bulbs are coming through now. The first (and my favourite) is the Snowdrop and we have a lot this year. In France, we used to have a couple of names for them. My favourite was clochette de neige, the little bell of snow. The Latin name is galanthus which is actually Greek (!) and means milk-flower. I haven't noticed this thread before. More from me on bulbs as they emerge! Great for mindfulness for menopausal ladies xxxxx

[CLKD]

Without our garden I would be totally lost  - not much sitting gets down as I'm always pottering 

Welcome AgathaC !

[CLKD]

Snowdrops almost gone.  Daffs being buffeted by the wind 
Almond blossom FabULUS 
Forsythia almost opened
Spawn everywhere ........
Hyacinths: planted from indoor pots years ago, suddenly up and in flower.  I had forgotten about those so a welcome surprise - pink
Violets of several types all over, the one thing that self seeds here
Off to look at my planting calendar for borage etc..


Found a blue hyacinth, up and open since earlier on.   . Perfume across the garden is lovely.

[CLKD]

Daffs
Almond blossom gone
Plum blossom glorious
Winter flowering honeysuckle still wafting perfume
1st blue bell open
Hosta poking up
Roses look healthy with new leaves
Honeysuckle creeping with new growth
Hydranga climbing all over
Peony 4" high

[CLKD]

Spent several hours at the weekend moving hebe plants in order to clear weeds from a border.  This afternoon I have put a line of mixed: poppies, borage, carrots ........ and covered over with a light layer of soil.  Sun is out so hopefully it will encourage germination  and hopefully, birds didn't see me nor the local mogs 

[Hurdity]

Yes it's been good gardening weather intermittently. After the rain finally stopped at the weekend I put in most of my perennials and the odd shrub that had been hanging around in pots - some since growing from seed last summer ( Delphiniums) and others bought from various plant places over last few weeks. Then yesterday I planted all my (seed grown) tomato plants into the greenhouse soil and repotted the container plug plants to grow on ready for my outdoor tubs and pots later in the year. Also sowed courgette and squash seeds.....

Hurdity x

[CLKD]

Lots of massage required now?

DH has helped me do a lot of moving shrubs and today planted seeds into toilet roll holders.  He did tell me what he was planting but meno-brain here  but I will benefit in the Autumn 

[Krystal]

Our wisteria has wonderful blooms on it this spring and this makes a lovely backdrop against the brick wall. There are also many flowers on the one strawberry plant we have, the crop was good last year so looks promising. The trees in the garden are coming into full leaf and greening up very nicely. This time last year was not good for the sweet peas we tried to grow from seed and they ended up being thrown onto the garden as mulch. We now have a surprise two sweet pea plants have emerged at random looking really healthy despite having had no attention.  In September 2O17 we bought some Wallflowers which turned out to be the most spindly plants ever, anyway they were planted around the garden and left to their own devices. The orange blooms on some of the remaining plants is outstanding and vibrant. People used to tell me some plants thrive on neglect, the sweet peas and wall flowers certainly have. The rain we have had is greatly valued and for :)tunately the winds have not been as bad as other parts of the UK..

[CLKD]

DH has had to re-stake a spindle tree and rose which are on the same stake, twice today.  I plan to move both in the Autumn once I've decided where in the garden will suit them.

Our wisteria hasn't.  3rd year, no flowers  but it is still alive as there are leaves.  Wallflowers are strange things, they really like to self seed - not much does that in our garden: pansies, wallflowers, violas .......... celandines however  .

[Dierdre]

I've got some bushes that are too big for the pots and want to put in the garden (no idea what they are), when is the best time to do this please?