It is June and There Will Be Strawberries ♥

Gentle Reader, this very morning I turned my Susan Branch calendar (Susan is one of my favourite people, an artist, a writer, and blogger) for it is June!  Soon, there will be strawberries for tea.  I had plants last year, but they did not survive the winter.  I coddled them too well and, apparently, they are hardier than I thought.  It seems I should have left them to fend for themselves, and I feel rather silly over this because I leave the tiny Alpine ones to their own devices whatever the winter weather throws at them, and it has been this way for many years and they thrive!  Why did I think the bigger plants were less hardy?  Gardening is often a very steep learning curve!

Three weeks ago, I salvaged five small runners that survived from last year's strawberry plants and I potted them up in an old Greek style pot that was lying empty.  I keep an eye out, for there may be more on the old berry patch.  Plants can suddenly return to life when you think they are long dead.  That is a peculiarity I am learning to be mindful of, everything gets a second chance, and I throw nothing out now until I am certain it is dead!

Looking at the pot each day as I pass by there doesn't seem to be much change.  However, putting the photo I took the day I potted the runners in, on May 8th (top), and one I took today (bottom), you can see that there are quite a few more leaves and the plants are establishing (which takes time) and starting to grow.  It is, after all, only three weeks ago.

You might also notice there are some tiny buds!  These, with gentle rain and good, warm, and sunny days, will become the strawberries that I love to eat, freshly picked in oh! so many ways: with cream, or sliced in a sugar syrup served over fudgy chocolate cake, in home made yogurt, or just as they are, picked warm from the plant as I garden . . such a delicious treat!

Today, a small box came in the post containing six more young plants that I ordered over the Bank Holiday weekend.  They do not look very happy, and I am a little concerned, but then I don't think I would be very happy at all if I had travelled through the post in a dark box for four days, would you? 

Once unpacked I can see there is sturdy growth in the centre of each small plantlet, and the root system is established, so I potted them up immediately.

Did you see my potting bench?  This is where I do most of my potting up.  The bench was made by my Daddy, and he used it for his carpentry work.  Sadly, it is now outside, and the elements are not kind to it, but I have no where else to keep it.  I have moved it into a shady spot, against the east facing wall of my cottage.  Here I can work in the afternoon, for the wall of the cottage gives me shade from the sun which at midday passes over the roof and then beats down on the west facing side.  I try to work on the other side of the house during the morning, when I have time.  This suits me not to be working in bright sunshine, and it suits the plants too, for I am certain it is not easy on their little systems being shunted from one pot to another, and the cooler the better I think.

My rainwater barrel, which harvests rainwater from the rooftop, is right by my side too, so that saves having to carry heavy watering cans from the tap.  Here is the bench all ready with compost and pots ready to receive the strawberry plantlets.

and now they are in having a good, long soak in this tub of water . .

They seem happier now they are planted up.  I have every faith that they will settle in well and soon there will be strawberries for tea.  All we need is for the weather to improve now that it is June.  They say we are a month behind and that April was one of the coldest Aprils on record.  I do not think May will be declared a warm month either!  Three weeks and the longest day will be upon us, so I am praying for steadier andwarmer temperatures, plenty of golden sunshine during the days and gentle rain in the night . . oh! would that not be simply perfect weather, everything the garden, and I, need to thrive!

Bits and Bobs and Other Jobs

Gentle Reader, Welcome!  Even when there isn't anything big going on, like digging (ugh!) there are always plenty of bits, bobs, and odd jobs to get on with in the garden.  Over the last few days the weather, generally, has been quite kind and although I haven't felt like doing any heavy digging, I've been getting on with some of those bits, bobs, and odd jobs.

It is Spring Bank Holiday this weekend (Memorial Day in America) and by tradition this is the BIG weekend for gardeners in the United Kingdom to make a start on readying their gardens for Summer.  The garden centres and big D.I.Y. conglomerates ready themselves for the biggest garden supplies trading week of the year.  Millions of bedding plants, pots, tools, compost, all manner of garden sundries, and the odd shed or two will be flying off their shelves, and good weather is imperative to get this off to a good start.  Sadly, this year, the weather is still stuck in a rut with below average temperatures across most of the UK, strong winds and rain are forecast for tomorrow (Bank Holiday Monday) and the week ahead does not promise any improvement.  Normally, by this time, I have already got some salad crops ready to pick, and my courgettes would be getting ready to plant out in the ground.  This year nothing is ready.  It is worrying.  If things don't pick up soon this could be the second year I don't grow very much.   I reckon we are about a month behind on the weather.

On I plod, and here are some of the jobs I got up to over the last few days, with some random images of things growing in my garden.

A few weeks ago over 100 foxglove seedlings arrived at my cottage and I had to pot them all up into individual modules.  This is what they looked like yesterday, and the task of potting them up into bigger pots, around four inches, began.

These are the first nineteen, potted on and in a large tray of water having a good drink to help them settle into their new pots.  This is where they will stay now until they are planted out directly into the soil in about two months, depending on how quickly they grow.  They will not flower this summer, being biennial, and I am anxious to see what colours they are, so I must be patient!

I bought some new seeds, Calendula to give some bright, annual colour, a lovely splash of oranges and yellows to dot around the borders, and a packet of Garlic Chives because I don't have any of these and they are quite delicious, and a packet of Dill as I do not have any of that and it is one of my favourite herbs, to eat, to look at, and to photograph.

I found a packet of Runner Beans called "Scarlet Emperor" and planted them up in a large dustbin that has a split in the side.  I filled it with compost and I planted a dozen seeds using my trusty dibber to guide me to the correct depth of two inches for each seed.  When the seeds germinate and there are tiny plants starting to push their heads above the compost I will show you a picture. 

A dibber is a very useful tool.  Mine is made of wood, I love the feel of wood in my hand as I garden.  It is marked, you can see the rings, in increments of one inch and by pushing it into the freshly tilled soil you can make a hole of exactly the right depth to sow your seeds.  Brilliant!

There are flowers on the Alpine (miniature) strawberry plants.  These make excellent ground cover, and I let them run almost where ever they want.  Moving a leaf aside I often find a tiny, sun~ripened, sweet, warm fruit, picked fresh they are a real treat for the gardener at work.  They produce very tiny fruit that make an attractive garnish for a summer berry dessert, added to a Pimm's cup, or to decorate a pretty cake.

The apple tree is full of pristine, snow white blossoms.  I do not think I have ever seen so many blossoms on the tree.  Now all we need are the pollinating bees to come and there will be apples, crisp, sun kissed apples, freshly picked, and juicy on a warm Autumn afternoon.

Isn't this a sight to see?  It looks quite bridal, don't you think?  Thinning the apples at each cluster will be quite some job this year if they all set fruit.

Here is the pot of Alchemilla Mollis I showed you a few days ago, heavy with dew, sharing space with the glaucous leaf of a Pasque flower.  It is growing so quickly, as Alchemilla often does, so soon I must separate them out.

I love the daisy~like Osteospermums.  A native of South Africa, they seem to thrive in our British climate.  This surprises me, for I think of South Africa as being warm, but apparently it can be sharply cold as well!  I am happy, for these bright blooms give splendid drifts of colours, pink, purple, white, and yellow across the borders.  The centres are all so different too from fuzzy velvet to shiny satin textures.  I can only imagine what they must look like in their native home, growing wild.

Gentle Reader, the forecast for the week ahead is unsettled at best.  The lawn needs mowing!  There is heavy rain for tomorrow, so a typical forecast for Bank Holiday, with winds of 20 mph, with gusts of 40 mph and more.  Oh dear!  I think we might have seen the last of the apple blossom looking so magnificent, and this news could really impact on the fruit, as there are far fewer bees than usual and without the beautiful blossom to attract them the pollination will not happen. 

We will wait and see.  My water barrel will be filled with freshly falling rain flowing from my roof.  I have brought all the tender plants and trays of fresh~sewn seeds indoors for a day or two, until the heaviest of the rain and the wildest of the winds have passed to protect their leaves and roots, and stop the seeds washing away as can easily happen in torrential downpours.  My next entry might be a few days away, for there is little I can do in these conditions except hope it will pass by quickly.  Everything will be watered and refreshed, and I hope for warmer days to speed the growing of my plants and seeds.

I will leave you on a cheery note, a blackbird often gives me company in the garden as he seeks out fresh worms and bugs for his hungry brood.  Today, I was delighted with his precious song, so here he is for you.