12. Spring is Sprung!

Finally, I found a little bit of spring, lurking behind the wheelie bin.

Last year, I bought an ornamental bucket full of mini daffodils. I put them in the front yard to add a bit of colour. When they stopped flowering, I put them in the back yard, which is a bit more sheltered - and forgot about them. This week, I found them lurking behind the wheelie bin. Despite the yard getting no sun, they had grown buds and were about to flower. They are now reinstated in their original place, desperately trying to draw visitor's eyes away from the weeds on the path!

Armed with the fact that things were finally beginning to grow, I set off for the allotment. Unfortunately, time was short so I only managed to prepare the ground for the fruit I had bought and do a little watering in the greenhouse.

As the weather has been so rainy and even snowy since my last post, I have taken the opportunity to wander around the garden centres. I have bought two summer raspberry plants and one autumn raspberry plant, one blackcurrant plant, and a lemon plant.

I didn't plan on the lemon plant, however, it was only £4 from a well known hardware chain. I did have a lemon plant a few years ago. It never fruited, but lived quite happily on the south facing balcony of a top floor flat. I figured that now I had a greenhouse, a lemon plant would thrive. Two weeks later, it's not going entirely to plan! Half of the leaves have curled up and gone slightly yellow. It appears, it doesn't take long to get hot in the greenhouse! I may install one of those drip feeders that you attach to a bottle of water. If it is struggling now though, what will it be like in mid summer?!

Apart from the fruit plants which are still sat in their pots, I have planted some seeds. I tried this about six weeks ago at home, but nothing germinated. So, I have tried again. This time, the seeds are in the greenhouse, where they should get more sun than on a windowsill. I also put a sheet of plastic over them, in the form of a home made propagator. A week after planting, there are still no shoots, but I am still hopeful.

Outside the greenhouse, things are looking better. The leeks that have been left in over winter, are looking nice and healthy, and like they may put in another growth spurt before I pick them. The overwintering onions also look to be doing well, and the garlic has grown quite a bit as well.

Back in the greenhouse, there is another visitor. All the large holes have been blocked up, so the fox hasn't been playing with the gardening gloves for a while. However, when I went to check on the lemon plant, there was a hole in the soil, next to the roots. It appears we still have some holes to fill, maybe a mouse or rat sized one! No wonder the lemon plant is looking so sad!