Not a drop of rain this week which means Peter has had to get the hose pipe out at the crack of dawn each morning. It is now over two weeks since we have had any rain at all and I am seriously thinking of doing a little dance to the rain gods, praying for a real downpour. (My apologies if you are currently on holiday enjoying the sunshine).
Unfortunately, we are still experiencing ground frost at night so all the plants currently hardening off outside have to be tucked away in the greenhouse each evening. The runner beans are now a good size and I am anxious to get them in the ground but the tender plants will have to wait a bit longer yet.
The peas "Kelvedon Wonder" have come through a little erratically so I have just pushed a few more into the ground filling up empty spaces. I use the very technical method of wearing a rubber glove and using my thumb, simple but it works. I had to do the same thing last year but we ended up with an excellent crop.
The Alpines are looking particularly pretty just now with their gorgeous colours but I must admit, although they look wonderful , later in the season I will have very few in bloom. I guess that is just bad planning on my part but if anybody knows of late flowering alpines I should be delighted to hear from them.
A dear little Olive tree that was a gift to us for Christmas 2008 has now been brought out of the greenhouse and put into the garden for the summer. It is still very small and I am not optimistic that we will see any fruit for the next couple of years at least but I shall continue to lovingly tend to it and eventually I am sure our patience will be rewarded.
I still find it impossible to resist the temptation of buying salad and vegetable bags every time we go out and they are now in every available space in the garden. Surely they are the best way of container gardening ever and you only need to spend a fraction of what you would pay for large tubs. I must admit seeing the little seedlings popping through never fails to thrill.
