May flowers and wildlife 2021

 Violets

Euphorbia

Dandelions

Bugle

Forget-me-nots

Lungwort

Berberis darwinii

Primroses

Three cornered leek

Broad beans

Daisies

Rosemary

Hardy geraniums

Herb Robert

Aquilegia (purple and pink)

Allium

Nectoscordum

Sow thistle

Buttercup

Strawberries

Chives

Sedum

Bacopa

May 2021

May was fairly busy with reasonable weather most of the time. In the vegetable patch the broad beans have been in full flower and started producing pods. The broccoli produced a good and tasty crop, and has now been uprooted and composted. The broccoli patch was then weeded and split into 15 'squares' (not very geometrically accurate!) and sown with lettuce, carrots, beetroot, Swiss Chard, land cress, spinach and other greens. The strawberry plants were left in and are flowering, and the chard from last year left to flower.

In the flower garden plenty of plants started coming into bud, and growing vigorously. The weeds joined in, so weeding has also begun! The mature compost bin was emptied and spread under some of the shrubs. The compost had a lively population of ants so hopefully they have relocated themselves. Some of the shrubs have been pruned back, and I had a fun time deadheading Dandelions - I love the way that the stems go pop when snapped!

In the lean-to I potted up lots of lavender seedlings, split up and repotted the parsley, and sowed French Beans, Honesty, Hollyhocks, English Marigolds, Hellebores and sunflowers. I also obtained some cuttings of Lampranthus and potted them in gritty compost, as well as some geranium cuttings. While weeding I uprooted a couple of rooted cuttings of Salvia 'Amethyst Lips' and potted those up to. The lean-to is overflowing with seedlings, plants and cuttings now!

The old tin bath was replanted with Lantana, two types of Bidens, red Verbena and nasturtium, with the existing foxglove seedling. The Nepeta cuttings from last month were planted in a hanging basket out of reach of the cats and have settled in and are flourishing. 

The neighbours cats are up to their usual tricks, but I am slowly becoming sanguine about it. Still swearing loudly, but progressing.