We had all afternoon at the plot yesterday. Whilst Martyn was busy with his tiller I was busy weeding. This may be a strange thing to admit but I quite like weeding - somehow it's satisfying to look on a tidy weeded bed with loosened soil. I'm a girl of simple pleasures!
Yesterday one of my weeding tasks (task makes it sound unpleasant doesn't it maybe I should say experiences was to weed around the row of native primroses that grow along the foot of the reluctant kiwis.
They are in full flower at the moment but were surrounded by weeds so I sat on the grass, with the sun warming my back, weeding around them taking care not to pull up any of the tiny self sown seedlings. A couple of ladybirds chose one of the flowers for a romantic liaison so I had to take care not to disturb them too. As I worked the delicate scent of primrose drifted in the air, furry bumble bees checked out the flowers and up in a tall tree just to the right of the photo a bird sang it's heart out.
It satisfied four of my fives senses - I suppose I could have nibbled on a flower and then I would have had the full set but I chose not to go as far as that!
I do like the colourful cultivated primroses although I'm not keen on the double varieties but I don't think you can beat our natives
We have a small patch of primroses in the garden in the bed where the snowdrops and hellebores are planted but, being more shaded, these are only just beginning to leaf and it will be a while before we have flowers there - that is if the birds don't take a fancy to the buds - strange how they leave the ones on the plot alone.
Update on frog activity:
They have really overdone the frog spawn now - take a peek at Martyn's post.
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I actually don't mind weeding either. One of my partners favourite stories about me is how on the way from a night at the pub I stopped at one house and declared that I simply must reach out and remove a weed from someones front garden. It seems I was a little too under the weather for the task as I managed to fall over the fence and head first into the garden. I was a little bruised - not sure how the weed fared...
ReplyDeleteOh dear - I hope the owners had the curtains drawn. We usually rent a cottage for our holidays and if the garden is untidy I have to retrain myself!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about native primroses, I don't think the cultivated ones are a patch on them, though I do still like them. I left a comment on your last post but it hasn't shown up, and I remember leaving one on an earlier post too which never showed up. I hope Blogger isn't having comment problems again.
ReplyDeleteHi Jo, For some reason Blogger had popped your comments in the moderation area but hadn't sent me an email to let me know they were there - anyhow I've now clicked the correct box - sorry - I may try unmoderating for a while to see whether I get any unfortunate messages from the spam machine! The same had happened to Martyn's blog so for some reason Blogger took against you!
DeleteLooks lovely Sue. I'm a weed puller too. If I see a weed at someone's home, I can't help but pull it!
ReplyDeleteIs it the start of an elite club or an illness Robin?
DeleteIt's probably closer to an illness!
DeleteI too am a girl of simple pleasures and love to weed the garden and loosen the soil to get it looking great...I spent time getting this done in the garden yesterday and I just can't stop glancing out my window and smiling to myself...wish tackling my front garden was going to be so easy!! There is one thing Sue...at least it doesn't cost a fortune to keep us entertained!!
ReplyDeleteThat is very true Tanya - our husbands should count their blessings!
Deletegetting flowers on the plot is one of my goals this year, they will bring more than just somthing nice to look at, like the bees etc.
ReplyDeleteyour primrose's look great. what other flowers do you have at your plot? i want to make a cut flower bed for the wife this year. do you have any perenials?
To be honest most of the perennials are plants that we have divided from the garden and didn't want to plant there - we have penstemon, crocosmia, centaurea, Michaelmas daisies, achillea, heuchera, and some shrub roses. I may have forgotten some - we also have some mini cyclamen, and other low things under the blueberries. We also have a lavender edging to the fruit beds.
ReplyDeleteWe grow annuals in amongst the fruit and have grown cosmos, candytuft, annual chrysanthemum, zinnias, calendula, French marigold (single for the insects), dahlias, nasturtium, rudbeckia, foxgloves, poppies, sweet Williams, sunflowers (not pollen free) and sweet peas.
This year we are having a sort of wild flower mix alongside the dahlias - we hope.
The bees love herb and fruit flowers too - it's amazing how the love the tiny flowers of gooseberries etc. We also have some buddleia bushes they love to visit those.
Yep, I agree. Weeding can be very satisfying. As you know, I like my garden to look neat and tidy, and I find that the best approach is to tackle the weeds little and often - don't let them get too big, because they are far more difficult to remove when they are mature. Since my garden is just outside the door, I often pop out just for a few minutes and pull up a few weeds.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever run out of weeding mark we have plenty to keep us busy.
DeleteThey do look good. I agree; the native ones are definitely best!
ReplyDeleteI think it's a childhood thing Woody - I always loved to see primroses and bluebells when I went walking with my grandad and his dog
DeleteThose are pretty looking primerose blooms!
ReplyDeleteI love weeding too! It makes my hand dirty but the outcome is satisfiying!
So another one for the weeding club Malar!
DeleteThey look fantastic, the seeds you sent last year seem to have germinated but are very tiny, I shall keep them safe and hopefully later on they will be big enough to pot up.
ReplyDeleteThey are probably at the same stage as the seedlings growing around my plants BW all of these came from seeds taken from the plants in the garden at home so yours should grow.
DeleteThe same thing happens to comments on my blog sometimes. I always check for moderated comments now before I publish a new post, that way I don't forget to check. I'm going to continue moderating the comments on my blog as since I've switched off word verification I've had over twenty spam comments, which of course I could delete as they were moderated.
ReplyDeleteI switched off the moderation for a while and have so far had no spam comments - tempting fate I know - I'll see how things lie and them go back to moderately if I have a problem. Now Blogger have also changed our URL which means the quick edit pencil has gone - I just hope all the links from other places still work!
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