What I’m Doing: This week we had a big delivery arrive from The Rose Press Garden which has kept us quite busy! The package included a Pink Astilbe, a couple of White Hostas, a Peony ‘Duchesse de Nemours’ and a few different packets of seeds we’d ordered too.
This is our first time growing peonies from a tuber so when we opened the packet it gave us quite the shock! Looks more like something from Harry Potter than anything else – but lets reserve judgement because we know just how beautiful this is going to be!
We’ve also taken delivery of some Slug Rings this week, kindly gifted to us by Ruth – these are going to be put to the test around the Cafe Au Lait Dahlia and also the sunflowers when they’re outside. Our dahlias got RAVAGED last year by slugs and snails so let’s see what these can do to combat that.
Elsewhere the tulips are proudly arriving! The large wooden planter I built last year now sits out the front of the house and at the end of last year we stuffed it full of purple and white varieties of tulips – unsure whether this is going to be incredible or awful!
What I’m Sowing This Week: The sunflowers are finally in and we’ve currently got about an 80% germination rate, which is phenomenal really. This year we’ve opted for a real variety and some of the dark tones feature prominently in our choices – which include, Infrared F1, Black Magic F1, Red Sun, Claret F1 and Velvet Queen. I’ve also sown some more Snapdragons as the first lot I had completely failed due to lack of heat, lets see how these ones do!
What is Germinating!: Other than the sunflowers mentioned above there hasn’t been anything else we’re waiting on this week.
Once home to Crocus – now home to more violas. The Cloud Gardener, Jason, asked recently if people liked bulbs or spring bedding more and I’m firmly in the bulb camp but I do love violas too. How about you?
Anything Else? The lupin bare roots from Wilko still haven’t gone in because I keep forgetting about them! Maybe this is the week they’ll finally go in?
Come and let me know what you’ve all been up to in your green spaces…
View From The Potting Bench 