Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008

Last night we watched some of the television coverage of the opening ceremony for Liverpool 'European Capital of Culture 2008'. We toyed with the idea of going into town but I was apprehensive that it might be too crowded so we made do with the disjointed snippets on BBC News 24. St.George's Hall glowed in the dark as cranes danced and container crates burst open to reveal precious cargo. I am looking forward to attending some of the events and will report back as the year unfolds.

'Surprise, Surprise'

Last year's surprises - acanthus mollis and clematis texensis
'Princess Diana' - both have been in the garden for some years but have never flowered before. Must have been all that rain !



Postscript - the clematis flourished in the summer of 2008 but once again sadly the acanthus was a complete no show. So much for my rain theory.

New Year

Well, here I am again with my usual new year's resolution to be a more regular blogger having failed miserably once again in 2007. Well 2008 is here - a mild and mainly grey day here so far. The predicted rain has not yet materialised and hopefully I will be out soon planting a few late bulbs.

In a nutshell gardening wise and weatherwise 2007 turned out be the strangest year. A very warm and dry April was followed by what turned out to be am extremely wet late spring and early summer. On the lottie nothing really thrived except for my French beans which dripped beans throughout the summer. I have never had a worse year though for tomatoes and carrots. Very few grapes. A pleasant, mellow autumn followed. In November gale force winds bought the exterior fence down at the allotment, so my Christmas present this year has been new fencing which my beloved has put up. I have still to see it.

Not much in the way of garden visiting last summer although we fitted in one or two beautiful ones in Devon between interminable downpours. Above is a photo from one of them - Buckland Abbey if I recall correctly. We also enjoyed a trip to the Malvern Flower Show in spring despite the wind and rain. Later in August we went to the Southport Flower Show where we managed to catch a glimpse of that rare old golden globe in the sky.


Hope to be back soon !

Shiver me timbers

Well so much for being a diligent blogger ! Here we are a good few few weeks later and a lot has happened in the garden. The snowdrops are nearly all over now - only one or two late stragglers. The hellebores are still thriving and I have a lovely new one which is a very deep plummy colour. Pulmonarias and primroses are in bloom. I had a shock yesterday to see a geranium phaeum in flower.

The weather has been mild on the whole but a cold snap just now. A very windy night and hail,sleet etc.this morning. The forecast for the rest of the week is for some wintry weather and frosts at night. My camellia 'Jury's Yellow' is just opening its first flowers so I hope that these are not damaged by the frosts.

I spent a couple of hours at the lottie on Friday morning and could see a visible difference after my stint. Sadly the dividing fence between us and next door is all but down. I imagine that last night's winds could have done more damage but it will be a few days before I get up there to see what may have happened.

Seeds sown so far include tomatoes 'Ildi','Black Cherry' and 'Gardener's Delight', nicotiana mutablis, rhodochition, sweet peppers, celeriac, mixed salad leaves, 'Bijou' lettuce, brussel sprouts 'Red Bull' and sweet pea 'Zorija Rose'. I think that all these babies will need some nurturing this week. Only a week though to go to summer time.

Wet and windy

The first fortnight of 2007 has been very wet,windy and mild. Some snowdrops and hellebores already open ! I saw some daffodils in flower today - not in my garden but just up the road. They are snuggled away just behind a wall. I remember thinking that they were early last year but not as early as this. On telling himself of the daffodils he told me that he saw a flash of yellow by the stream yesterday. Maybe an aconite. Surely not a daffodil. I am off come first light to have a reccie. Will report back.

New Year's Day 2007

Last night's threatened gale force winds did not materialise I am glad to say. New Year's Day started bright and sunny but went downhill. Rain and hail the order of the afternoon and the evening. I have not had a chance to sort out seeds or order but have planted some daff bulbs albeit late on in the day. They had already started to sprout. I also planted up an amaryllis. Back to work tomorrow.

I will be a more diligent blogger

Another year coming to an end and again I have neglected my blog ! Having just managed to get here after faffing about to change to a Google account it might take me another year to return ! What a year it has been weatherwise. A cold late spring followed by a very hot summer and a warm autumn. It has been the warmest year since records started. The forecast for the rest of the day is gale force winds and rain. I will not be venturing anywhere though. I am off now to sort through my seedboxes and do some sorting out. Still have one or two orders to place. May do that later or if not tomorrow. These fingers are itching to get going again.

New Year's resolution ?

I vow to be a more diligent blogger !

'So begins another spring'

'From the dark and wetted soil
Petals are unfolding
From the stony village kirk
Easter bells of old ring

So begins another spring
Green leaves and of berries
Chiff-chaff eggs are painted by
Mother bird eating cherries'

Donovan Leitch

Well Easter weekend has come and gone. Spring has arrived and the last week or so has seen that magical greening.

I spent a couple of hours at the allotment where I managed to drop my mobile phone into the water butt near the shed. It is no more !

Have divided perennials for the plant sale, pricked out Ildi and Purple Calabash tomatoes as well as the celeriac and have filled that green bin again. Sowings made over Sunday/Monday were basil, peas, salad leaves, courgettes, cucumber and gaura lindheimeri. The best time of the year !

Germination

We have germination - indoors both rhodochiton and clematis 'Korean Beauty' and outdoors on the sand bench the perennial white stock has come through. Sowed tomatoes today - 'Ildi' and 'Purple Calabash' as well as some nicotiona mutablis. It is snowing as I write and if the weather forecast is right there will be more to come during the night.

Of snowdrops and seedsowing

Ooooops - what happened to those new year resolutions ! Well I suppose there has not been that much happening in the garden and I have neglectd my poor lottie. All that is about to change ! The propagator is on and the first batch of seeds have been sown. Last weekend - verbena bonariensis now in fridge, rhodichiton and something else that I have forgotten inside. This weekend the perennial white stock and orlaya grandiflora on the heated sandbench.

I have some new snowdrops including 'Anglesey Abbey' and 'Modern Art' - both Ebay purchases. We had quite a bit of snow on Thursday night into Friday morning and then some severe frosts. We made it to March with only a flurry of the white stuff in November and then all of a sudden winter arrived. The snowdrops were absolutely flattened by this and have only just perked up. Still some snow on the ground now. The day has been a mixture of sunny spells and scattered wintry showers which plummeted down on my head and finally drove me inside. Off to study veg planting schedules now.