23rd - 29th January

My apologies for the long gap in posting. I have had some computer issues as well as other things crowding out my time.

23^rd January

My compost bin is very nearly full, and it’s not the weather for fast breakdowns so I must get the other bin load sieved and distributed fast. Trouble is I’ve lent my sieve to my Dad for a while. There are now 2 crocuses showing orange, plus many more green shoots of various bulbs poking through the mulch and soil. It all looks promising and reminds you that spring is on the way – albeit in another 2 months. It is also a reminder to wash the pots, buy the seeds, buy some sowing compost, plan and prepare, not to mention tidy the garden plus get on with those raised beds at the allotment!

28^th January

I had a quick session sieving more compost and spreading it about the border, then collecting up some pots for cleaning that for some reason had been distributed around the garden. I also moved a few items from the conservatory into the playhouse. I have a set of wooden stand-alone shelves that I need to put up but first I need to make the space!

29^th January

Wow, can’t I shop when I get going. I had a 10%-off voucher for Hilliers to be used by Saturday, plus Hilliers are selling seeds at 20% off. I bought 3 flower seeds packets, and one of butternut squash. Unfortunately they did not have the sweet pea varieties I wanted from the Unwins catalogue, but they did have a mixed sweet pea collection from Suttons that I was after. I found some Christmas candles and candle holders going cheap, as too was a butterfly feeding platform to encourage and help them. I bought some plug plants for the hanging baskets, as well as 2 new baskets so that we’ll have five dangling in the sunshine this year. I got a red petunia for the front basket to go with the white fuchsia again as that worked last year. There are 3 purple surfinas and 1 white one and 2 plum coloured verbena aztecs. The 3 fuchsias saved over from last year will be reused and I’ll throw in some nicotiana to fill any gaps. I wanted to buy some weed suppressing membrane (the 2 sections covered last year have proved its efficacy) and I was going to buy it off the roll, but then I saw that it came in pre-packed rolls that worked out cheaper than off the roll. I took advantage of another offer – 3 x 75 litre bags of multi purpose compost for £10, and the crowning glory was a miniature greenhouse – basically a stacking shelf unit with a heavy duty plastic cover with a zip up door. Apparently these are very good, and this one was £24.99 not to mention the 10% discount. All this, with discount, came to £64.25. Phew!