Spring and Garden Chores.

We have been busy over the last few weeks, completing gardening jobs. One of the new projects has now been completed. I wanted to build some more raised beds, but had to redesign the garden to fit them in. So its "Goodbye" to the two compost darleks as the space they took up has now been reallocated to two raised beds.We managed to build three in total. These beds will be used to grow a variety of veggies this year.

As I don't want to stop composting, I have ordered a wormery.

The website that I ordered from have 15% off, so got a big one as I want to produce as much compost as I can from kitchen scraps. The model pictured is not cheap but you can pick up wormery's for about £30 to £50 pounds depending on what your requirements are.

I will continue to compost but will do it via a different method. Our local authority collects garden waste that you put into green bags for collection. During the gardening year they come every fortnight, so I will use this method to compost garden waste as they have huge compost heaps to break garden waste down. The compost that they make is sold back to householders at £1 per bag.

This is a picture of our newly planted apple trees. I had been waiting to get these in as the weather had been bad.

I am training them as cordons. I have planted at a 45 degree angle, tied trees to canes. I have also set up the wire framework, three wires approx 18 inches apart which have been pulled tight to help keep the trees in place.

The varieties we have chosen are Cox's Orange Pippin and Golden Delicious. Both are in the same pollination group, so hopefully we may get some apples at a later stage.

Another job that I have managed to get done this weekend in the glorious sunshine, was to lift my strawberry plants. I have had these plants for a few years and have been propagating the runners as new plants. I have put them in a two tier flower stand. I hope this will stop the the slugs.

I have planted out the garlic that was put in modules earlier in the year, I now have lots of green shoots and the shop brought clove has also made an appearance.

I have continued to sow seeds in the greenhouse. I have sown cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, sorrel and thyme. The carrots sown into a trough are doing well, peas are up and the lavender and Chinese lanterns have all been picked put.

I am continuing to pot on tomatoes and chili's. I have sown far too many for our requirements so I will be sharing them out with family and friends.

Spring is definitely on the way, we have daffodils coming into flower along with crocus and snowdrops. Looking around the garden, plants are starting to come into bud, with a few green leaves coming along. Our Chaenomeles (ornamental quince) has lots of leaves forming.

This week I am going to sow some flower seeds for use around the veggie patch. I want to do some companion planting to protect crops and also encourage wildlife into the garden. Speaking of wildlife today we saw the first bee of the season. I think it was probably a queen as it was about the size of a fifty pence piece and was buzzing all over the place. I have also sown some teasel seeds (thank you seasprout). I love the structure of these plants in the winter and want to grow them to help feed the birds. They look particularly decorative in the winter when covered in frost. I have also been lucky enough to receive some lemon balm seeds and cuttings (thank you seasprout and Mrs C) which I am going to grow to produce some pot pourri. The plant has a beautiful lemon scent and can also be used in tea. I am going to try the tea so will report back at a later date.

So far, I have a good feeling about this year's growing season. Let's hope I am right!