Spring is on the way.

Over the last few weeks I have not had as much time out in the garden as I would have liked due to some overdue DIY that had to be done and will continue for the next few weeks. I hope to squeeze as much gardening in as I can with the nights becoming lighter. I have prepared all the beds and the new raised beds have been built and are ready but I still have to paint them. Out in the garden the daffodils are coming into flower, every day the garden is starting to come back to life with new buds forming on the shrubs and clematis. Its great to see new life in the garden and the promise of the growing season ahead. The grass has started to grow, so I will give it a light trim as the weather forecast for this next week looks quite good.

Worms!!!

The wormery arrived a few weeks ago now and has been set up. They have been tucked up in their coir bedding with added compost and seem quite at home. I have started to add small amounts of food scraps and they seem to be be responding. Looking forward to them producing some "Black Gold" for the garden.

This is a piccy of what their bed looks like. I have added plenty of shredded paper as the bedding should not be too wet or too dry but a good mix. As they start to get more productive I will be able to add more food scraps which they will break down at a quicker rate. The instructions suggest that if you have 1kg of worms they can eat up to 3 kg of food per day.

Basil

I have taken some cuttings from a Basil plant that I brought over a year ago from the the local supermarket. It had started to get a bit woody so thought that I would rejuvenate it. Last year I produced lots of plants by taking cuttings from this original plant.

All I do is take a good stem of basil usually one that has a few sets of leafs, pinch out the growing tip and place it in a glass of water. Within a few days the cuttings have sprouted new roots. Once the roots have got established, I then plant them up. By pinching out the growing tip this will encourage the plant to bush out. I have also sown some lemon basil and another variety called opal which is a dark purple colour. I will companion plant the basil with my tomatoes.

Mystery Bulbs.

Last year my neighbour gave me some bulbs she had given from a friend. She couldn't remember the name of them at the time, so I planted them in containers in the greenhouse and forgot about them. They started to grow and have now shown themselves. I am the new owner of three lots of different coloured hyacinths. They are pretty and have a lovely scent, so this was a nice surprise. I have a container of white, pink and blue and the greenhouse smells lovely!

Update on Early Tomatoes.

All of my early tomatoes plants are growing well and have been sitting on the window sills. I have topped them up to the top of their cups now so the next time I pot them up will be into bigger pots. I am really quite pleased with them. Will have to see how they come on. What with tomatoes, chili's and sweet peppers I am starting to run out of window sill space! A very kind work colleague also promised some seeds from some heritage varieties he has been growing, however this didn't pan out, he dropped off six plants whilst I was at work last week so now I am really struggling for space but looking forward to trying these varieties. Mr G has kindly provided me with Mortgage Lifter, Stupice, Super Snow White, Brandy Wine, Kellogg's Breakfast, and Paul Robeson.