For the weekend gardener it has been a game of two halves again.

Saturday cold and very windy, an excellent day to work in the greenhouse! Not a bad thing as over wintered fuchsias needed trimming back as new growth is now appearing. The same treatment was required for pelargoniums and geraniums that have survived the winter with no heat but have been protected by the bubble lining in the greenhouse. There has been three or four casualties but just late taken cuttings.

My large flowered Dahlias grown outside in summer in pots were brought in last autumn, the tops cut back and the pots laid on their side to keep the compost dry. I have found this the best method of keeping the dahlia tubers protected and plump over the winter months.  Indeed when knocked out of the pots to replant in fresh compost they did look well, that is until closer inspection of two revealed slug damage. One big swine had got into the pot and burrowed inside a tuber and had been dining extremely well, snug and cosy with a nutritious meal readily available. I have cut the damaged tuber off the main plant, treated the cut with fungicide and repotted in the hope that it will recover to repeat the superb show of last year.

Sunday by comparison was a beautiful sunny day. One of those early spring days when the sun may be shining but it is not too hot to get bust with a fork and spade.

A few years ago I grew some perennial plants from seed and they have served me well, flowering profusely and bulking up very nicely. So nicely in fact that they needed splitting to give them room to breath, not to mention producing even more for me!

Some of the clumps I moved from the back garden into a front border.

A friend happened to call to drop something off for me and saw me at work.

“You seem to be lifting and replanting without thinking about it, how do you know it is the right place?”

That question made me stop and think. I have got to the stage I guess where instinct has taken over. I know my own garden and having redesigned the garden over the years I just have a picture in my mind of where something will look right.

Do I ever make mistakes? Yes, but that is part of the learning process and usually easy to put right. Thirty years ago it was very different, a novice gardener thirsting for knowledge I was lacking to create my first garden and frightened of making mistakes. With little money to spare any mistake seemed very costly and there was the thought that other people may not like my creation. Time has taught me that I am creating a garden to firstly please myself, if the finished product is admired and appreciated by others then naturally that gives me a sense of pride but it is only a bonus and not the most important factor.

More colour is appearing in the garden as each week goes by. The flowering cherry shrub is in full glorious bloom and the Magnolia Stellata has flowers in various stages of bud and full flower. The latter is a treat I look forward to each spring. Scent is provided by the Viburnums at one level and Hyacinths another. What a truly wonderful time of the year.

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