After a few weeks of horrible weather it was very sunny and warm yesterday and I wasn't able to go to the allotment because Littlest L had her semi-final match over in Wetherby. It was a really hard match but she managed to score 7 goals and they went through to the final on a 7-1 result. I couldn't be more proud of her; then today we went to Garforth for her induction and measuring up for her new kit for York City Development Centre. The coach talked about how impressed he's been with her so far so fingers crossed this is the start of things to come.
I did manage to get up to the plot for an hour this afternoon, I didn't manage to get to 87a but I'm happy to get 86a tidied and sorted before I really get stuck in on 87a. It's such a funny feeling looking across the path and knowing that it's mine! I do want to think about whether it's worth putting gates in the side of both plots so I can jump between the two easily. I know it sounds lazy but the main path is so muddy that it's actually quite difficult to get between the two. I'm not going to talk too much about 87a until I start working on it so that's all I'm going to say about it for now.
Spring time is my favourite time of the year, all of the spring flowers are starting to bloom and the weather is starting to warm up. Last week I sowed lots of seeds and I was delighted that a few of them had germinated this week. It's still a bit cold (in the unheated polytunnel) for the pumpkins and tomatoes but they're starting to come along.
The flower bed is really starting to look great. Last year I planted a second peony but it didn't grow at all and I thought it had died but this year it's growing and it looks really strong and healthy. I'm really looking forward to seeing it flower. All of the spring flowers are growing really well. There's loads of grape hyacinth that I actually forgot I'd planted. I have a lovely group of tulips and I just planted some English Bluebells; I have bluebells near the pond but I saw some at the garden centre and I bought them on a whim. It would be lovely to have them spread across the bed. I also planted some sweet rocket, it's apparently really nicely fragrant in the evening so I'm looking forward to that.
The Hellebore's are also still putting on a good show, there's a small one at the back of the flower bed but in the planting table there are 3 that have gone absolutely nuts! I can't help but wonder if they're happier when they have their roots restricted - does anyone know if that's true?
I've also got a couple of pots of lilies that seem to be growing well. They're both oriental lilies and so it will be interesting to see how they compare. The smaller pot are the lilies from last year; they performed well last year and so I'm hoping they do the same again this year. My long term plan is to plant them into a bed on 87a but in the mean time I'll keep enjoying them in their pots. In the bigger pot I have some new bulbs and I've also planted freesia's into the same plot so hopefully I'll get a great display.
I am a little worried about my new bleeding hearts. I have 3 plants in pots and they didn't look very happy today. I've just read that they prefer partial or full shade so I need to move them but they looked quite dried out so I might need to plant them in open ground soon rather than keeping them in pots. I'll keep you posted with their success or failure!
I did try to do a video tour of 86a today but it cut off halfway through so I'll have to do it another time. I'm up there on Tuesday to show a plot so if the light is still good I might try again.
Until next time then - happy gardening :-)
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