Friday 24 April 2015

spring, sunshine and seeds

The past couple of weeks have been glorious here in the UK. Sunshine nearly everyday, above average temperatures and loads of time to get out & about in the garden. Spring has to be one of the most magical times, everything is bursting back into life. I adore seeing the blossom arrive on the trees and planning the seeds I'm going to plant.
planting seeds in spring
I've been planting out calendula, nasturtium and some other 'purple flower' I grew last year. The calendula came out of packet of mixed seeds last year & I fell in love with them. With regular dead-heading, they flowered all Summer long. I saved a heap of seeds from last year's plants & they've been drying in a cup all through the Winter.
dried calendula seeds waiting to be planted
Our apple tree was really unhappy last year. It didn't fruit at all & the leaves turned brown. I gave the tree a prune for the first time & so far, it looks much happier this year. It's starting to bud with blossom and the leaves look much better.
apple blossom waiting to burst into flower
I also love nasturtium. I'm a big fan of easy plants that look after themselves and churn out heaps of flowers. I've planted a couple of seeds per fibre pot. The good thing about fibre pots is you can put them into the ground & not disturb the seedlings roots. I bought mine from Wilko, they are only 80 pence for 12 so definitely worth buying a few for your seedlings. I also go around pushing nasturtium seeds in here & there around the garden & wait to see what pops up later in the Summer.
fibre pots filled with compost and waiting for seeds
fibre pots filled with compost with nasturtium seeds
The unidentified 'purple flower' has already started to sprout & I will need to pot them on soon. They also came out of the packet of mixed seeds last year & once again I saved lots of seedpods from the plants & dried them over the Winter.

I think possibly one of the best Spring-time treats is seeing the cherry blossom appear. It's so fleeting, gone after a few days, but it is utterly beautiful whilst it is around. We have two cherry trees, so I get to see plenty of my favourite blossom.
cherry blossom in full bloom in spring
pure white cherry blossom in full bloom in spring
This week I'm linking up with 'How Does Your Garden Grow' #HDYGG over on www.mammasaurus.co.uk












6 comments:

Mammasaurus said...

Ah cherry blossom gets me every year, reminds me of being a child and walking up the school drive which was lined with those trees either side. Happy memories.
I'm only planting a few things from seed this year, we did a HDYGG seed swap a few weeks back and I received some seeds from the States so I'm most excited to see what grows! Thanks for the heads up about the peat pots - they sound like just what I need!
Thank you for joining in lovely x

Lorna said...

Ooh, how lovely is your cherry blossom. Very delicate. I too am a big fan of nasturtiums and last year I had them crawling all over my trellis and patio. Real character plant. That's a great idea with those little pots, I'm gonna find me some of those. :)

Me, You and Magoo said...

Can't wait to see what the seeds from the USA look like Mammasaurus!

I bought the peat pots, I think they are actually called 'fibre pots' from Wilko, they are only 80p for 12 pots...definitely recommend them
http://www.wilko.com/seed-trays-plant-pots+planters/wilko-fibre-plant-pot-round-8cm-12pk/invt/0330501

Chickenruby said...

the cherry blossom looks lovely, is it scented?

Becky Brown said...

I love the magic of Spring. We've had perfect weather conditions for growing recently and everything has come alive. It's such a shame cherry blossom doesn't last longer as it is so beautiful!

Me, You and Magoo said...

I had to go out into the garden & check if Cherry Blossom was scented! The trees I have aren't scented, but the apple blossom has a lovely, subtle scent.
The Cherry Blossom has virtually all been knocked off with the recent rain...

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