Spring jobs in the herb garden.

I have tidied up the herb bed and given it a good mulch, the Jasmine has plenty of new growth, rosemary is thriving as is the chive. The oregano is emerging, no sign of the sage yet. The green pot contains self-seeded tarragon.

Clearing Weeds

Today I have been clearing weeds from the veg patch ready for some planting. Robert has been helping, there's his spade.

The compost bin is full, ready for digging in. The water butt is also full.

Plenty of worms and slugs are out and about plus a snail but not much other insect life as yet. The blackbirds were sat on the roof waiting for me to go in for a cup of tea so they could feast on the freshly turned over soil.

We've had typical spring weather today, sunshine and showers.

New Growth

After all the wind and snow has subsided I can see little things growing in every corner of the garden. The London Pride looks fresh and green and random Snap Dragons are appearing where they have self-seeded. The blackcurrant has new leaves and right down at the far end of the garden I can see a couple of wallflowers in flower.

The birds are very much awake in the mornings now, their song starts my day. A friend of mine was telling me how he has a pair of Nuthatches which visit his garden to feed from the bird feeders he has put out. He was a surprised to find just before the snow came the male Nuthatch frantically pecking at the mortar between the house bricks. After a time the bird had made a hole large enough to fill with seeds from the feeder. Its incredible how they are aware of the changing weather and know how to prepare for the worst.

What Are They?

I was wondering if anyone out there on the blogosphere can name these flowers. I spotted them while we were on holiday in Devon and so far I cannot figure out what they are called.

Did the Earth Move?

A few days ago, we had an earth tremor. The whole house shook. I had just gone to bed when it happened. Most people slept through it.

Nothing to do with gardening per se but I thought I'd record it for posterity anyway.

Tomatoes

Well, its the1st of March and pretty soon, the clocks will be going forward an hour to put us into British Summer Time once more.
The first thing I do in March is to plant tomato seeds to stick in the greenhouse for summer.
I'm thinking of trying the new method of growing tomatoes this year where the roots are hung high from the greenhouse roof and the trusses are allowed to hang down. I think it's a Dutch idea. Apparently, because the plant doesn't have to use its energy pushing the water and feed supply against gravity, the fruit is bigger.

time will tell but i am a tomato junkie and my favourite variety is Moneymaker. I find that the bigger tomatoes haven't got as much flavour.

Roll on summer.

Water Features

This year, I am determined to install a water feature in the garden

There are so many types to choose from. Real concrete, resin, you can even buy stainless steel.

then there is the problem of electricity in the garden.

Now I'm the first to admit that I'm no electrician. but i know a man who is. My brother Steve qualified as an electrician before he went self employed and he pointed me to the pond he has built. Apparently, Blagdon who manufacture pond pumps an accessories do a simple garden electricity kit. It comes in various lengths and plugs into a 13 amp socket in your kitchen. It terminates in a fully double insulated switch box from which you can run all your equipment such as pond pumps, water features and low voltage garden lighting. Sounds good to me. i have got my eye on a stainless steel mushroom water feature as it is small enough to fit in my garden.

Here's a link to the water feature if you want to have a sneak preview. Steve built it into his deck so you can't see the resin bowl underneath but it looks fantastic, and it's lit as well. Should provide a talking point in the long summer evenings.

As you can tell, I'm an eternal gardening optimist. Surely this year can't be as bad as last weather-wise.

Weather:

Uncommonly warm for the last day in February. Looking at the onion patch from last year. I'm wondering whether to put a deck up and grow veg in bags this year as an experiment into micro-gardening.

Saves all that digging and weed problems. plus if i get some copper strip it may keep the slugs away.