Ah, garden fever once again.........

Oh what a beautiful day it has been - hot, sunny, blue skies and no wind. Just perfect. So, after a sleepless night, I rolled out of bed quite late - after 9am if you really want to know! - and flung open the doors into the garden. I only crawled back in when Jean called late afternoon and suggested I pop over for coffee in her garden. She too, had been attacked by garden fever.

I was on a mission, you see. This is the Choisya bush. I need the bed for other things, like pretty flowers .... like dahlias. I have some waiting for a space, and if I can ever work out which way up the bulbous thingy goes, I will plant them here.

 But first this large bush had to go.

And after hacking away with secateurs, loppers and finally a whopping great saw, this is what I am left with. I tried scooping away the soil to see how big the roots are, but they appear to have headed for Australia, and I will need a large male person with muscles to come and dig it out. Or I may resort to the axe. 

I have so many seeds. Some bought on last year's sales 75% off, and some gathered from my own garden and my friends' gardens. I cannot begin to tell you how exciting it is to get out all the envelopes stuffed with seeds, and see which can go in now - like Godetia - and which I can start as seedlings. 

Now I quite understand if you look at the photo of the pile and shudder. But I don't. I want to wiggle and bounce about with delight. I am SOOOOOOO happy the time has come to sort them out. 

You know how you start one thing, get it half done and move onto another and then see something else you need to do which leads to 2 other things etc etc? Well, that was me today. I filled some pots with soil, then needed the little greenhouse cloche to keep them safe, but I couldn't find the cover, which necessitated opening the bigger greenhouse, which meant taking out the hanging baskets, so I hung those up then needed more liners, so got those from my sewing room, then hung up the pot holders on the fence, and then found the cover., but the tomato green house cover was on top of it, so I decided to do that one first so I had to move the pea baskets and potato pots to get to the frame, so I thought I must plant the peas, so I did that after I found all the seeds and spied the pea packet and then I needed netting to stop the squirrels from eating them, so that meant I needed string, so I went in search of that and then I had to find the scissors in the kitchen which meant more coffee, and then I sat down, and then I saw that the .........

That is the longest sentence in history, but it is a typical illustration of my day. 

 This is the workstation. Potting Central.

 And this was part of the patio after I stopped for the day. The pots will not stay there - they are just out of the way and in the sun for now. Potatoes, you see.

And then Jean sent me a message inviting me to coffee. I sent one back saying my garden was a disaster zone,. and she replied saying that hers was as well. Ah, all we need is the sun and we are off and (sort of) running. So I hopped into the car and drove up to Jean's house, only there was no parking anywhere, because the entire village appeared to be on the Rec. (Recreation Ground). So I parked at the church and my stick (oh wow, did I need it) and I walked over the Rec to her house - past babies, children, Mums and Dads, Grannies and Grandpas, dogs, and teenagers. The teen area - with zip wire etc was full of young people, the skateboard park was busy, and the playground was full too. The sounds of children and ice cream vans and music....... it is just like summer......

 This is the large mound on which the church is built - it has an ancient moat like thing around the back. You can see it here.

 And you can see the children at the skateboard ramp and on the right is the teen area.......

 Looking back at the church on the mound. Aren't the trees beautiful without their leaves? When they come out, the church is hard to see.

 The playground with many little ones playing......

And over the road and into Jean's garden I went. That empty chair was waiting for me. I did wonder if I would sink through the material in a disastrous fashion and descend to the ground. I did not, although I did flop into it with delight. I started thinking that I would never get up again, because as soon as I stop moving, every single bone in my body seizes up. But maybe tonight I will actually sleep. We can but hope.

Coffee and chatting in the sun was delightful. And then Jean told me the compost we used for out pots was on offer at a local superstore, so I departed at haste to get some before they closed. Never fear.....I have now got enough to fill all the 14 hanging baskets, heaven knows how many troughs and pots and what ever else I need to fill.

This year I will grow beans, tomatoes, lettuce, peas and broad beans at home. More beans, broad beans, gem squash, leeks, butternut and 3 varieties of courgettes on the allotment. I may add more, but I am halving the stuff I plant at home. We are in a drought here, and the hosepipe ban will begin on 1 April, so I am trying to plant things which do not need a huge amount of watering. We will see.

So now I am heading for the couch and a little rippling. I may never get up again. Have a wonderful weekend!