All behind like a cow's tail.....

Afternoon Campers,
I feel soooo behind with the garden this year. I'm putting it down to a number of things.....two lergies, Easter weekend, birthday weekend...which due to Lergy 2 rolled into the bank holiday, & most of all, the icy nights we've been experiencing until very recently, which has put the brakes on much of my veggie-growing activity. Must try to do more regular blog posts to motivate me into making progress.

These are funky little tulips, aren't they? They're called 'Lilac wonder'. They close up when it's shady & open right out into pinky-purple stars with poached egg middles when the sun comes out. They've been flowering for ages - a welcome pop of colour on our dark courtyard (way too dank to call it a patio!) 
I've started livening it up today. I want it to look lighter, more airy, more welcoming....more anything, really, it's such a big bloody black hole, but the key thing is that I don't intend to spend any money on it. Well, maybe £5. OK, £6 at a push. I'm going for a vintage theme, & intend to re-purpose stuff & use clobber I've already got. Had a general tidy-up & sweep today. Removed 3 tubs of daffodils. No joy in looking at dead flowers. Have replanted them to fill gaps in my big borders for next Spring. Went round wafting the secateurs in the direction of anything looking dead, wilty or just generally crappy. Funny how once I'd done that, I started noticing new green things coming into their own.

The witch-hazel is pushing out Spring leaves........it will enjoy a month or two of perfection before the leaf cutter bees move in on it, chewing out halos of greenery & rolling it up under their wing before taking it off for their nests.

Well, I felt quite inspired once I'd started clearing away the crud. I brought my pelagoniums & agapanthus out for a short back & sides, & have left them in situe to start hardening off.

Whooo-hooo! Am flying now! Fetched Possibly The Most Pot-Bound Bay Tree In The World & set about re-potting it into the lush pot I received as a birthday present at the weekend. It's been a gorgeous sunny day here & the warm roots smelled amazing.......a little like the leaves, but more like a Bay & Lime fragrance the Big Hairy Half of the Relationship used to wear. Any neighbours looking out probably thought "OMG, she's actually INHALING PLANT ROOTS now!" But hey, these are grim times, horrible divisive Tory government, levels of inequality going backwards.......a girl has to take whatever zen moments she can! 

Then scrubbed out the foetid bird bath.......it's beyond me what had been going on in there. It was a rainbow of sludge, all of it clinging to the sides like grim death. There may have been new penicillin strains in there, all of it now dumped around roots of cherry tree in the hope of amazing nutrient content. So that's the start of my £6 courtyard tart-up. The best thing is that it looks way better already. The next best thing is that I haven't spent any of the £6 yet!
Think I need to focus on the veggie garden tomorrow.
Hope you've all had some of this fab sunshine.
C x