Body Ache

What a week! I didn't plan to go all week without posting but in all honesty I was to knackered to post before Thursday and so decided to leave it till tonight.

Starting on Monday I decided to enlist the help of my mom in erecting the picket fencing I received from a freecycle member last summer. The fencing is to surround the vege bed area , not only would it look nice but it will stop accidents like balls being kicked into the beds and when we finally get round to getting the girls a pet dog it will hopefully keep the dog out or at least enforce a sense of boundaries.

So Monday after we spent hours of trying to figure out the best way to erect it we finally got started first with the cutting of the posts and then pounding said posts into the ground hence the title 'Body Ache' and just before dark got the first two largest panels up.

The only other gardening I got done on Monday was watering of plants. Then just as I was putting everything away for the night I dropped a seed tray full of nasturtiums and my onion seedlings. I was able to pot up and save the nasturtiums but sadly I lost all the onion seedlings :(.

PS the courgettes have begun to germinate on Sunday 29/03/09 and the yardlong beans started on the 30/03/09 and my first small cabbage white butterfly was also spotted thankfully it was on it own. Will have to start netting early this year I think against their caterpillars.

I also had my first sigting of a hoverfly for the season.

Tuesday started with me potting up tomato and squash plants which didn't get done last week as I ran out of compost, so I was glad to get that job done. I finally got round to watering some overwintered plants and composted the ones that didn't make it.

Worked some more on the picket fencing and got a further two panels up.

Wednesday I did some more potting up, this time basil, cabbage and ochro. I resowed my onions and planted out the torsha plant into a pot with its wigwam in place, it will remain in the conservatory for now till the night time temperatures remain consistently at ten degrees Celsius or more, then it will be moved into the greenhouse.

The remaining panel was put in place and the rest will have to wait till I dismantle the wooden pallets I have been collecting for this project, what do you think so far?

There was lots of butterfly activity as well, I saw the resident peacock butterfly (resident because it always comes back to the same location to sun itself) also saw my first ever yellow brimstone (sorry flew by to fast to take a picture) and my first comma butterfly (enjoy the photo) for the season. The tadpoles in my pond have finally broken free of their spawn nest and have migrated to different areas of the pond and the first pond skater of the year made an appearance.

The morning glory has began to germinate.

Thursday I was finally able to start transplanting some of the young greenhouse seedlings/ plants. I should have harden them off first but time is of the essence as I plan to be away for six days and to put things simply I do not trust mummy and Anthony to not kill me seedlings, so I figure they would be safer in the ground so the most ready plants will be planted out over the next two days and I will provide some cover to help protect them from nighttime drops in temperature. So the first ones out were the turnips.

More potting up of plants was done as well. The melons appeared to already be out growing their tin can pots so I prepared three large pots with a mixture of garden soil, compost and some blood, fish and bone slow release fertiliser and planted the young plants into them, I still have one more to pot on which I will do when its bigger.

Today Friday I aimed to get all my transplanting done but didn't >:( life sometimes just get in the way. I got the mangetout peas, lettuce and chitted parsnips in all under cover except the peas which I netted to protect them from marauding pigeons.

I also was able to fit in some sowing of annual and a couple of perennial flowering plants;

The annuals were - poppies x three varieties, calendula, California poppy and cornflowers.

The perennials were - heartease and white violas both of the same family.

The weather over the week following a crisp frost on Monday morning started strong with lots of hot sunshine all day but ended with cool foggy mornings (Thursday and Friday) and warm sunny afternoons.

Took lots of photos of the spring flowers, so please enjoy;