I have always wanted one, that and an Indian Bean tree, but that is far too big for my garden, so I am hoping my new handkerchief tree fits the bill, as I was told it was fine for a small/med sized plot, but I am guessing like everything else size depends on soil and location. Guess we will have to wait and see, as it takes 10 years to ‘flower’!!
Suzzie the patient one!!!
I can’t wait to get back out in my garden next week when the school holidays start! I’ve got some tidying to do but mostly it’s the planting I’m excited for. I’m doing a couple of crops of potatoes again in tubs (I did charlotte potatoes last year and they were gorgeous!). My strawberries need planting in hanging baskets now because our dog is tall enough to reach the plants on their stands and pinches the fruit before I get chance to eat it. A couple of my herbs need replacing too. My Mom starts our beans, courgettes etc. off in her greenhouse so they’ll be planted out in early May. I’m seriously gutted that I can’t grow tomatoes in this house though, every time I plant them out they get stripped to skeletons by spider mite which I can’t get rid of as much as I try 
We’re looking to move soon so I’m not investing in any long term planting since I won’t be able to take it with me, my big plans for a cottage garden will have to wait until I have a pad of my own rather than a rental.
Happy bank holiday gardening!
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Oh how I wish there were more hours in the day. My garden was my passion until I started crafting. I have a full-time job and all my spare time is now spent crafting. Our once-beautiful garden is starting to look a bit neglected. I’ve always been a flower gardener rather than veg. It pains me at the moment that the lovely crocuses and daffodils are largely hidden behind/under the masses of dead perennial foliage from last year that I still haven’t got round to clearing from the beds. Last weekend, when the weather was nice, I planned to get out there and blitz it but decided that I’d finish sewing some items and get them photographed first. Of course I ran out of time and the garden wasn’t touched 
. If only I could afford to give up my job!
I have the opposite problem to you, there are time when I know I should be in the workshop making something (that is my main income after all) but the garden/ allotment calls to me and I can’t focus on making until I’ve got mud under my nails.
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Oh, Sasha, how that rings true, the Call of the Soil !
And then with soil under your fingernails, and dirt in the wrinkles on your hands, how do you then create something in a cream yarn?
Suzzie x
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I recently had to restring some pearls on - yup you guessed it - white silk. The race was on to get it done and stretching out so that I could get down the lottie for a sunny afternoon of digging.
At last, all’s well with the world. I managed to knit the cream rose for a saddle bag last night, so I had no excuse to go to the lottie and start weeding.
Have done the raspberry bed, rewired the the supports, and mulched.
Sorted the strawberries and weeding them too
Weeded the blueberries as I need to mulch with the left over ericacious soil from doing the camelias .
It feels fantastic, I have wind burn on my cheeks and soil under my fingernails.
So much more to do, but there is no stopping me now…seeds to sow…
Suzzie x
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I actually managed to find some time to clear all the dead perennials from the borders yesterday. Now we can actually see the daffodils!
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My chilliest are germinating! I’m growing 5 types this year, 4 have germinated so far. Definitely going to grow tomatoes again this year.
Need to get the new greenhouse assembly finished, hopefully later today.
Nice to see my tulips bursting into flower today.
Blimey with 5 types of chilli you must like spicy food. Which varieties have you gone for? We grew such a glut of chillis a couple of years ago that we are still using up the chilli oil/ sauce and the dried ones from that so aren’t bothering to grow any more until their used up (they were very hot what ever they were so it doesn’t take much to give food a bit of a kick).
Definitely a big fan of hot food! Mine vary in heat and are Korean, Finger, Thin (cayenne), Red and the mildest are Multi-coloured. It’s the Reds who are being slow.
Just reading the info that came with the chilliest and it says the Korean is the hottest, “is good for the health, waking up the digestive system. It is also praised for keeping food from going bad, and is even used to make hand sanitizer.” 
Don’t say things like that - I’m probably going to Korea later this year and I’m not keen on food so hot it makes you break out in a sweat. Also I used to work in pharma and capsaicin was used in some of our biological assays so I believe the bit about hand sanitiser but really don’t fancy trying it.
You can have great fun grinding up dried chillis and then coating bird seed with it then watching the squirrels drink the birdbath to cope with the heat when they try it (birds aren’t affected by capsaicin).
So far I’ve made a list so I’m about to make my seed order.
I’ve done my planting plan for the veggie plot and I’ve pruned one apple. one cherry and 3 pear tree’s. I still have 1 more apple tree to prune.
I also have a general tidy up of my herb garden and soft fruit garden.
I bought my onion sets on Wednesday
I need to make a start on digging the veggie plot which I hope to get going on this Saturday.
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I have just popped some avocado stones in water to try and get them to germinate 
Wish me luck
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Good luck and I hope you’re patient - they can take up to 6 weeks to germinate and 10 years to get big enough to fruit. I’m a) not that patient and b) don’t like avocados so have never tried growing them.
My seed potatoes are chitting (if that’s how it’s spelt?) My strawberry runners from last year will be repotted tomorrow but they look to have lovely little root systems so I’m looking forward to seeing what my 7 home-grown baby plants produce 
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yep chitted is the term and mine are doing the same thing.
I had great plans for this weekend ie dig over at least a quarter of the veggie plot and get the extra veggie pots ready but you know what they say about the ‘best plans of man’
I went and pulled a muscle in my lower back so that went out the window.
Take it easy on your back - based on the forecast for the next week or 2 there is no point in getting a head of ourselves.
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The greenhouse is up! Finished yesterday. It looks good and has been well made but the self-assembly instructions were a nightmare! Onwards and upwards now.
Oh no, just remembered…we need to install the automatic window opener 
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I am growing cherry tomatoes again this year as they are so easy and can be grown on the patio. I’ll probably grow rocket in a tub, and I’ve also started some snapdragons from seed as I love them!