May round-up - Flowers

Finally, flowers. Have moved the sunflower seedlings outside. Not sure where I'm going to finally put them. Rapidly running out of room!

In the greenhouse there are seedlings of Phlox, Foxgloves, Calendula, Morning Glory, Love-in-a-Mist and Mulleins. Should be pricking them out soon and potting on.

Outside, the Victorian garden is coming on well. Some of the Wallflowers have been damaged by the wind and rain, but everything else seems fine.

The Hostas in the bog-planter are doing well and the primroses have finished.

Rose 'Lady Veilchenblau' is doing well. Have pruned off some of the lateral growth to force the remainders up. Plan to train them against the fence.

Sweet peas sown last autumn are very strong and need tying in.

The car-boot sales started last month so I've started picking up a few plants. Bought an aqualegia and lupin. The Cosmos have gone in as well. There were four Echiums in this bed, but they have all suffered from either greenfly or vine weevils eating at the roots. Had to pull out three of them but left one in and gave it a dose of soap spray. Hope it survives because they're biennial and have been growing these for a year already!

I thought there were snails eating the Foxgloves, but upon closer inspection there were dirty fat caterpillars hidden deep in the stems. Hoiked them out and fed them to the robins. Cheeky buggers.

Delphiniums have started to flower.

Purple Forget-me-nots and Aubretia in the pond bed soon to be joined by yellow Lilies, Crocosmia and Rudbeckia.

The flowers on the Clematis have been forming for 4 weeks now but seem to be waiting for some late spring sunshine before bursting out. This is a lovely Montana. Very easy to take successful cuttings from, but a bit of a beast.

Roll on the end of the month when things can really kick off!

May round-up - Veg

Quick round-up of the veg side of things. Rooster spuds in the bulk-bag are coming through well now. 

And the Maris Pipers in the bags are slightly ahead.

Herb planter and strawberry planter here. Many of the Sage leaves had powdery mildew on, but have picked them off and the remainder seem much healthier.

In the raised bed many of the carrot seed I planted in March have failed to germinate, so sowed some more. Some of the peas are rather straggly, while others are very strong. May collect some seeds from the stronger ones to see if it's genetic. On the far side are more Maris Pipers that have all come through now and seem strong enough to survive any frost.

A friend gave me his surplus of onion sets, so put them into a planter, adding plenty of potash to the soil, as well as gel crystals to retain moisture. May need to thin them out to get some decent size specimens, but we'll see.

In the greenhouse, Shallots are doing well and should be ready in another month or so.

The Chinese cabbage has gone ballistic so need to start eating some of it soon. Starting to heart-up too.

Had to bring the delicate tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and courgettes into the house of the past week or so, but due to the central heating they started to get rather leggy. Put them back into the greenhouse this morning to thicken them up again. There's a slight chance of frost tonight, but it's been so warm in the greenhouse hopefully they won't get damaged.

Super Marmande beafsteak tomato is starting to grow taller too. I think the large pot it went into encouraged it to grow roots first, but it seems to be catching up. It looks like a small snail or slug has had a go at the lettuce seedlings, so have put some slug pellets down to keep the buggers at bay.

The leeks had an infestation of greenfly but I made up my own concoction of soap-powder spray and it worked very well.

Celery is doing very well in the damp but mild conditions. This is variety 'Green Utah'. Might leave a couple in the greenhouse and try the rest outside in pots later in the month.

And finally... The wind and rain has done for the Uchiki Kuri squashes. Have sown some more in posts in the greenhouse.

Next, flowers...

May round-up - Fruit

Thought I'd start off the month with another round-up of what's happening in the garden. It was the first dry day for what feels like a month - a bit chilly but dry. Made a good job of mowing the lawn, edging and weeding the paths, then forking and feeding the moss-riden patches to improve drainage. Misses is very impressed. Anyway, on to the fruit...

Chardonnay grape in the greenhouse is way ahead of it's cousin outside. Have snipped off the leading shoots from the laterals as they have 5 leaves already. No sign of any fruit yet.

Raspberries are coming on well. Tough buggers these are. The gales last week snapped some of the guide strings, so lashed them up with fresh twine.

Cherry has finished flowering. Not sure how much fruit I'll get in the first year.

Many of the shops are starting to discount the soft fruit that are starting to wither and die under the fluorescent lights. I rescued two blackcurrants from Poundland and this one from Wilkos. They fruit on the previous year's stems so will have to wait a while. They seem to be coming back to life though...

The Bramley blossom is nearly finished. Hope the bees have been busy. There are quite a few other local apple and pear trees in flower at the moment, but not sure if the bees have enjoyed the wet weather. Guess we'll see in a few weeks if fruit start to form.

Strawberries are starting to form. they have really enjoyed the rain. Need to put straw around them soon. To keep them off the mud and keep the slugs away.

 The Elstart espalier is blooming really well, about a week behind the Bramley. Need to bring the wire a bit further out from the fence to improve ventilation around the branches as it grows bigger.

Don't think the Fig enjoys the English weather. Will see how it does this summer and may have to keep it permanently in the greenhouse with the Chardonnay.

Next, veg...