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| A glorious, sunny and warm day at the nursery |
As I write this there are flurries of snow passing the window horizontally, sometimes they grow into blizzards, then hail stones then back to rain. Then the sun comes out and sometimes it snows and is sunny at the same time!?!?
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| My out door potting bench in the sun |
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| Muscari and Luzula looking good together |
Back to work for the start of my working week in glorious, sunny weather. It was great to shed some layers and enjoy the feel of the warmth on skin, I really hope we get a good summer after this cold spring. After I'd done the cafe flowers I set up a bench behind the office in the sun where I could work and absorb some warmth and vitamin D! From here I sowed more seeds and tidied more shades plants to go over to the new area. I also got a new batch of shrubs and herbs labelled and out into the sales area to fill up the tables. I am slowly getting through the shade plants, weeding, cutting back, top dressing and moving them to their new home in the stock bed extension. It's beginning to look full!
The evening was taken up celebrating step son Adam's birthday with his choice of chilli, nachos, wraps, tacos and all the sides that go with it. Made by David it was both very tasty and lovely to come home to dinner cooked after a busy day at the nursery.
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| Osmanthus burkwoodii |
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| Tulip 'Fusilier' |
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| Chilli for those who like it spicy and not so much! |
The lovely sunny weather continued into a second day, wow, hooray, can you tell we need some sun and warmth? While it was quiet first thing in the morning I took the trolley of seeds I'd sown yesterday over to the tunnel. I spent a bit of time there sorting plants, making space and watering. I'm moving plants out as quickly as I'm filling the tunnel up with seed trays, it's all a bit manic in there at the moment. I brought another trolley load of plants back that are now rooted through and ready to go out in the stock beds. It was a busy morning with customers and in between I sowed more seeds and tidied more shade plants to move. I'm beginning to wonder if we will have enough room for the grasses too, despite carefully measuring out all the space! It's good to see all the plants out in one area though.
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| Displays tables in the sun |
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| A lovely sunny day in the nursery |
Making the most of the sunny afternoon I started to mark out and dig over where the Thuja hedge is going at the end of the new stock beds. This hedge will give us a boundary on the north side of the nursery and we'll put a gate in for customers. I started by lifting off a foot wide strip of turf along the length of the planned hedge and then dug over the soil underneath removing any remaining weeds. The ground is solid being clay and having been run over by a tractor for years and people walking over it. The removed turf is going to fill in hollows behind the office so we can level that area off. Nothing is wasted! The pet lamb which is now in the field behind the nursery kept me company. David came over in the afternoon with some half barrels he picked up when out and about working in the morning. He does that, comes across odd, useful things, after all he came across me and I'm odd and useful ;) We'll keep two of the barrels for display and sell the other two. So if you fancy a half barrel planter, approx. two feet diameter.....
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| Awwwwwww |
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| Pet lamb cuteness |
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| Setting up the line for the hedge |
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| Removing the turf |
After a busy day it was home to tea via Biggar for petrol and food for tea and then a couple of hours in my own garden carrying on re-potting my Pelargonium collection. I'm over half way there and the greenhouse is starting to look more organised. It's great to see so many cuttings and the plants all freshly re-potted, hopefully they will put on lots of new growth this year two.
Friday and chilly again and not so much sun sadly, still it was dry so more progress outside with the hedge and it's a warm job digging too, good exercise which is useful and productive in getting another job under way. Win win me thinks. I got more seeds over to the tunnel first thing, got the tunnel watered and brought back another trolley of plants to go in the stock beds. The sales area got topped up and more bedding potted up. Whew, and that was just the morning! David came over at lunch time and we got on with planting the thuja hedge. Another big job ticked off the list as we got most of the plants in and caned before finishing time. It's looking really good and I'm looking forward to seeing it become a hedge and form our boundary on that side. It will also give a nice backdrop to the stock beds and planted borders at that end.
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The hedge planted
and caned |
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| Lots of baby blackbirds |
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| Driving to work on Saturda |
It's amazing how much can get done when the weather is better, sunnier and warmer. Not only does it mean we can get on outside it makes us feel better and more motivated, well it does me. We got lots of odd jobs done in the nursery on Saturday after a mocha from the cafe to start the day. The day ended up having a recycling theme, either creating new from something else or re-using found items. We got the hedge planting finished and caned, hope it grows well! I got more shade plants tidied and moved, my old china sink planted up with a collection of ferns and started a new display with the half barrels David found.
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Making the path edge and recycling, a new display in the sales area,
Old china sink planted upwith ferns
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| The new recycled pallet gate |
While I was doing all that David marked out the path in the wildlife garden and started "planting bottles" for the path edge. This involves making a slit in te ground in a line and then tapping the bottles in with a piece of wood and hammer. The bottles sit slightly out the ground and will retain the chipped bark for the path. The other great piece of recycling we did on Saturday was a gate for the hedge. David made this out of a nice pallet and then painted it our Quirky bird colour. It looks fab. We gave in and picked up Chinese take away in West Linton on the way home, yes we did. A combination of child free weekend and working hard and treating ourselves again. We took the doglet for a walk along the river in West Linton while it was cooking. There was lots to see, from the ford, daffodils, wee river and old buildings and plaques. Normally we just see the main road and co-op so it was good to have a wander and Bracken enjoyed his wee walk too. After dinner it was a relaxing evening and thankfully I didn't fall asleep on the sofa again
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| Church in West Linton |
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| Trying to persuade Bracken to go for a paddle in West Linton |
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| Daffodils and fords, West Linton |
From sunshine to snow over night and a chilly wind and sunny intervals on Sunday. David was busy again hammering in posts for the new gate, making a sign for it and hanging the gate, it looks great. He also put more bottles in the wildlife garden path edge, which is grabbing everyone's attention .I got bedding potted up at last and all over in the tunnel to grtow on. The tunnel got watered while I was there and I tidied more plants. Once back in the nursery I worked on more shade plants and moved them, watered stock beds (I know, snow in the morning, watering in the afternoon, it's crazy. We were very pleased to get lots more done again this weekend, lots of progress with lots of different tasks.
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| We have lots of herbs for sale now |
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Snow in the morning, watering in the
afternoon, must be Scotland
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| Evening sky driving home after a busy day |
As the title of this blog suggests we are having wacky weather at the moment, sunshine and t-shirts on day, snow and winter layers the next. Monday was no different, it was freezing! Colder than any I can remember in the winter with the wind coming straight out the north and blowing right into the potting area. We had snow, hail and sunshine, quite often at the same time. I know Game of Thrones is due back on TV this week and they say winter is coming, but really? In between snow showers I managed to get the sales area topped up and re did the display tables. It feels like the plants (and I) have gone into suspended animation with the cold. There are lots of flower buds just waiting to open lets hope they don't get damaged by the frost we are getting at night.
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| Tidied and re-stocked display tables |
You know the weather is bad when I REALLY look forward to a day off and a chance to keep warm. The weather was no better on Tuesday with hail, sleet, snow and a freezing wind again. After a long lie and lazy breakfast we headed to Livingston and shopping. Something we don't do rarely, spend a day pottering around the shops, but we enjoy the novelty when we do. I even treated myself to some new clothes, another rare occurance, but I've been saving and it's about time I spent something on me. Even better when everything was half price or more, I love a bargain. We enjoyed lunch in a mock American diner and I treated everyone to something from the Cadbury shop, well I couldn't pass without going in, it would have rude not too and yes a bag of creme eggs did go home with me. Home for tea and more snow, brrrrrrrrrrrr.
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| Lots of lovely ribbon while looking for wedding invitation inspiration |
I leave you with some photos of the daffodils in the garden at home, needless to say with the downturn in weather I've not got much done there, not even any more re-potting of greenhouse plants. I hope you have a good week. Take care
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| Daffodils in the garden at home |
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