Six on Saturday 26-01-2019

Snow!  Just a little bit, a few cm, but snow!  It’s all gone now but the garden was briefly blanketed in white. It’s quite considerate of it to have disappeared before the weekend, should mean I can get some gardening in. I have a bit of weeding to do in the front garden.  An hour or two spent dealing with it now will save me several times that if left till warmer weather arrives.  Time for Six on Saturday then. Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything – wildlife, a tool, a flower, growth, a job completed, a job unfinished, anything at all. Join in!

Here are my Six for this week…

1 – Ivy Berries. I know for sure the local blackbird population is partial to an ivy berry, I watched one peck at a cluster like this and polish off the lot in no time. For all it’s several faults, this ivy thicket certainly pushes the boat out at the end of the year. First we have the welcome nectar-rich flowers, available long after much of the rest of the garden is kaput, but also the berries for the boids. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

2 – Astrantia major x ‘ruby wedding’. At least, that’s if you believe the nearby label. I guess we’ll find out later in the year.  Whatever it is, it seems to have settled in nicely since growing from seed last year. This flush of new growth is one of several emerging from the crown. For some reason I find astrantia quite tricksy to grow from seed. I find very few germinate and then very few of those survive to grow on.  Despite this I appear to have included one or two kinds in my seed orders this year.

3 – Cheapo snowdrop, unfurling.  Around October time I bought 100 snowdrop bulbs for under a fiver – just your bog standard snowdrop, nothing fancy.   I planted them all in the lawn, something I may come to curse if they stick around into mowing season. They are just beginning to come through.

4 – Allium ‘Mount Everest’, roots.  The three dozen alliums I have in 7cm pots are more or less all through now, and all are putting on a decent set of roots. I am looking forward to planting these out in the borders, not least because I will soon need the space in the greenhouse.

5 – Raspberry beds.  I have been without raspberries for a few years now. I had a stand of autumn fruiting canes which sort of petered out after years of good crops. I replaced the canes, planting them in a different area of the veg plot.  I did those no favours by mulching them with spent mushroom compost – they don’t like it, too lime-y, I gather. Despite digging them up, replacing the soil and replanting them, they have not thrived.  I am having another spin of the wheel of raspberry fortune. A couple of months back I bought nine new canes, three lots of three. Two are summer fruiting (Glen Prosen and Glen Ample) and one autumn fruiting (Autumn Bliss). Wanting to give them a good chance, last weekend I built a couple of raised beds, filling with a mix of top soil and garden compost. If they are happy in their new home, I should have 3 or 4 months of raspberries next year.

6 – Scabiosa caucasica ‘fama deep blue ‘.  I was tutting at this plant’s appearance, thinking I must tidy that up, when I noticed a rather anaemic flower.  I’m not sure if this skeletal flower is a late flower from last year, or an early one from this year.  The former, I suspect.  When it flowers properly next year, as the name suggests, they are a deep blue. I bought this plant in October and it is still in its pot awaiting the resident gardener to make up his mind where to plant it. Could be a while.

Those are my Six, what are yours?  If you’d like to join in, just publish your post and pop a link to it in the comments below. If you also mention my blog in yours, that would be fab.  For more details and other ways to participate, you can have a read of the brief participant guide.

I hope the weather allows you to have a productive gardening weekend, don’t forget to check back in during the day as links get added.

I’ll be back next week with another #SixOnSaturday.