Garden center

Yesterday we went to a garden center in Halle (ecoflora) I wanted to see which herbs they had, since the selection locally is a bit poor. Came back with a good bunch and three new ferns. We also went to the Hallerbos which I had never visited. The bluebells were still going strong. I may post some of those pictures separately.

I'm now transplanting. The ferns are in place and a few others too, but for some I have to think were to put them...

One strawberry "Maestro", which went in the strawberry patch close to the pallet. They had many types, I got this one because it said it was fragrant.

The ferns:

I got this photo for reference since I didn't leave the labels (and removed the buckler fern label which was still there since I planted it). So I got Asplenium trichomanes (15cm) Polypodium vulgare (70 cm) and Osmunda regalis (180cm!). I put 1 and 2 with the other ferns, the largest on the spot where one died (not winterhard I think) and the other towards the front since it's small. I was really hesitating where to put the royal fern. It gets large and needs perhaps a bit more light. I finally planted it before the hawthorn, not too close to it. I will keep an eye on it and see if it needs to be moved.

I was also hesitating where to put this mint. It will perhaps not be as invasive as regular mint (and I have a clump in the middle of my largest patch...) but I wanted to put it elsewhere. And it is dark so I wanted a half-shaded position. I dug a hole close to the rose/snowdrops, removed the grass, planted and refilled with soil. This one is Mentha citrata 'bergamotte'. Smells pretty particular. 70cm.

I also planted a Tanacetum balsamita (yay!!) close to the thymes. 80cm.

More later. I had to come indoors because the sun was merciless.

Meanwhile, a few ladybug photos I found in my phone, from a while back (22 april). There's less around the pallet now, perhaps it is now warm enough and they've spread through the garden. I see them less often but in more places.

Fig and other stuff

This one's from last weekend, we got hail:

This is a couple of days ago:

It froze at night. I put a fleece over the apple blossoms as a precaution.

And then I found this large bulb in the basket. Oops.
Peruvian daffodil. Been there for nearly two weeks.
Large! I planted it near the hyacinths.

All of these which follow I took today. It was a sunny day and all creatures were lazily sunning themselves.

Well, some were busy with lovemaking! video here.

Eyes!

Redcurrant

Hyacinths

Apple blossoms

Fig leaves

Peony

Wild strawberries

I planted some pole beans around these branches.

We'll see.

We dug out the fig again, the roots were still holding up nicely as they were in the pot. Pim dug a hole (about 60 cm cube, bit wider), we poured rubble (we got plenty) on the bottom, I lined the walls with recycled bricks (also got many), we then planted it back in.

This pallet has been a huge hit with the insects. I've never seen so many ladybugs together.
They are always crawling around it, sunning themselves, sheltering in the crannies.
Many other bugs are also always crawling around, lots of spiders!

Some Lensbaby indulgence, and...

I took out the Lensbaby today! I just love this lens. There's also a few taken with the 50mm and the 100mm macro. Guess which is which ;P

Some cherry tomato seedlings sprouted

And lettuce

I still need to plant these! I have no idea where to put the lavender...
Wheat will be the herb garden is now a mountain of soil.

These guys! We left a large pallet on the grass, and ladybugs seem to have
made a home out of it. At any time there are lots of them around!

At some point the strawberry bed got weeded and bedded with
the chippered branches from the willow tree we coppiced

I just like this overexposed blurry mess

White muscari waiting to be planted, I wanted white ones for a long time!

Some tulips from some bulb mix and roses

Louvre hyacinth

Hawthorn <3

Fern fronds

Fern fronds

More of the tulip-like-whatevers

Ginesta <3

A blue snail! apparently these eat the eggs of other snails (and other things).
Oxychilus alliarius. "Garlic snail", I think. 

We've been out in the garden most of the day (at it has been raining on and off all day also). Pim digging the terrace up, me just... what have I done today really? I don't know where the hours went, only planted the hazelnuts and the Japanese quince, and by the end and Pim had to help me dig and bring in soil and chips.

Been walking up and down a lot for sure, trying to visualise the "landscape", the view from every corner, thinking how to lay down the paths and beds and masses of plants and all that.

Since I wanted to plant the new bushes at the back, in what will be "room" 3 of the garden, I finally stopped wandering around, grabbed the hose and tried to lay down paths for that area before I decided where to plant.

I want to divide the garden in three chunks, since it is narrow and super long (5 to 8 metres wide by about 40 long). The first part will be the terrace (eventually we will build a conservatory over part of this large terrace) and kitchen (herb) garden. Second, orchard and vegetable garden. Third, berry orchard and shady fern corner.

So anyhow, I had a huge pile of old branches just where I wanted to plant the bushes, so I had to untangle the partially rotted mess and move it elsewhere (close to the hedge which will be a long term project anyway). That took me a while. As I worked I also picked out the bucketful of snails that were resting there and placed them elsewhere.

So finally the grass gor removed, the bushes got planted, the soil topped, the chips spread. By then it was pouring so I snapped a quick one with my phone:

Incredibly impressive eh? looking at the big picture is still quite deflating in my garden... these guys have a long way to go though. I posted about it yesterday, but I'll mention again the cultivars:
Corylus avellana 'Webb's prize cob', Chaenomeles × superba 'Jet Trail' (stays 1m high and 1m wide with a ground cover habit).

I have a pretty good idea of what I want and where, but the Japanese quince was a total impulse buy in the garden center. I am so glad though. This guy was totally unknown to me, but white blossoms attractive to bees, perfumed fruits, gnarly branches, cute ground cover habit, limited height and spread: I'm in! It is already pretty it's infancy. When I google I see mostly bright red blossomed varieties, that's a bit too much for me, but I've added "geisha girl" to my Pinterest plant board, those peachy blossoms are very tempting. I don't think I have the space for another, larger one even, though. Perhaps trained against a wall...

Fig

We had two figs in pots, they overwintered indoors.
We decided to plant the smallest one (Ficus carica Brown Turkey) outdoors
It seems quite protected in this location, between
the apple closest to the house and the peony.

Loki found the perfect spot for a nap

In one large pallet we left over the grass all winter it seems ladybugs have been overwinteringand now are waking up. They're crawling all over and mating and reproducing, and they're welcome!

Some spring things

I started going to the gym and it's great, because my joints have improved to the point that I can even dig in the garden :D it's very satisfying. There are so many signs of spring! green buds and little growing leaves everywhere.

Hyacints

I dug a little around the roses and hyacints. I saw that the hop vine is alive and well, yay! Also signs of life on lilac, broom and elder in this area. I should fill in a bit with more soil, perhaps add mulch.

I started digging the stubborn, old grass tufts off around the fruit tree area as well. Some kinds of grass do not let go of the ground at all until they dry out completely, luckily we just have two mountains of soil from where we are excavating close to the house, so I just filled it up and piled the grass tufts nearby.

That's one mountain of soil

This weekend we had a look in Aldi and I brought back a cherry tree, six strawberry plants, a packet of peruvian daffodil bulbs and some seed packets (they're like 40 cents there) and a box with mixed bulbs.

The box is entitled 30X COLOUR COLLECTION, but I got it because all the flowers are white, haha. There's 1x Dahlia, 3x Lilies, 5X Freesia, 10x Gladiolus and 11x Anemones "the bride".  That's all the information in the box, apart from planting depth etc, Aldi as usual is a bit of a bet. I hope some of these come out, especially the anemones which I love, I planted some before but they didn't turn out. In the peruvian daffodil (Hymenocallis festalis) packet there were just three bulbs.

The cherry tree is "Rheinische Schattenmorelle" and it's supposed to be sour. We removed last year's dead cherry tree and planted this one, it just one thin stem of about a metre, but it had green buds and it was cheap so I got it. It is in the first picture on the far left.

The daffodils went in in between the other ones which are already up, but not blooming yet. I planted the rest of the bulbs and the poured the contents of three seed packets around the fruit tree area, these are white alyssum (Lobularia maritima), a mix of cornflower and Lobelia "Kristallpalast". I didn't cover or anything and it rained right afterwards.

Also planted the strawberries in between the others, (I've done some weeding but there's still some), and Pim planted the tree.

Strawberry mess

Today I also weeded what has other years been used as a vegetable bed, around the perimeter we transplanted the herbs that were evicted from what is going to be a terrace some time ago. So today there I sowed some peas: sugar snaps "Delikett" and mangetout "Norli" (Aveve), two rows of each. The sugar snaps are closer to the pallets. I also poured the content of a white California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) seed packet from Aveve around the fruit tree area.

I also "Speedy" beans. So I still have enough space to weed and plant a few of these beans...

Don't have pictures of this area yet. It's behind the soil mountain on the second photo.